Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep Zero
by Eternal Symphonia
Summary: Birth by Sleep takes place 10 years before KH1. Join Terra, Aqua, and Ven as they search for the missing Keyblade Master in order to prevent foretold disaster. Rated T for swearing and violence.
1. Terra's Story:Book 1:Prologue

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep:Book 1-Terra's Story-Part 1

NOTE: Yes, this is the original Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep Zero. I have decided(for the LAST and FINAL time, I promise!) that I will take Nega.Zero and blend it into this one. I am still open to opinions for worlds and summons, and I hope you guys/girls will review. I'm EXTREMELY sorry to you guys that I keep changing my mind and whatnot, no please bear with me as I protest to myself not to do anything but CONTINUE KH:BBS ZERO. ALSO: Since the last time I posted KH:BBS Zero, I have kept the fact that Nightshroud had loyally reviewed an a lot of these chapters, so I am dedicating this story to him.

Prolouge:

Everything was quiet in the petite little world. It was properly named Destiny Islands, for it was a set of three tropical islands, in which they always have had their swaying palm trees, and cawing seagulls. The people who lived there always had the pleasure of the eternal Spring breeze that caressingly blessed their cheeks. It was a perfect ideal of a tropical paradise, some say.

Where we begin our story of Destiny, betrayal, sadness, friendship, hope, courage, and trust starts at the little beach where the children of the Islands spend their free time.

Everything was still and quiet on Destiny Islands; nightime had held the children prisoner from their playing, laughing, and yelling, all except for two little boys on the play-island, who were peeking around a tree root at the Door in the Secret Cave.

"I tell ya Sora, tonight that door WILL open, and someone is going to come out and they're going to be from a different world!" Riku, sora's silver haired, five -year-old friend promised.

"Awwwwwww," Sora, the four-year-old boy complained. "you've tricked me so many times before, how am I supposed to believe you now?" the brunette stubbornly asked.

Riku seemed to be too intent on seeing the Door open, because the only thing he did was stare at it for another five minutes, frustrating his blue-eyed best friend.

Another 5 minutes had passed...

"I guess it isn't going to happen, just like I said, Riku." Sora tried once again to stop Riku from drooling at the Door.

_No Answer..._ Sora angrily said to himself.

"Wait!" Riku yelled, in a whisper of course. Who would want to scare off something they have dreamed about for a long time? Well, it was a VERY long time in Riku's opinion.

Sora listened to the wobbling of something. He looked down at Riku's legs to see them wobbling like crazy.

"God, Riku, I think the wobbling noise is your-"

Click! The two boys watched in awe as the door swung open. BAM! The door had been slammed harshly against the black, smooth, drawing covered rocks that layered the walls of the cave.

"Finally!" a loud voice echoed around the cave. "God, I thought that stupid door would have never opened." the voice sounded relieved.

Sora and Riku stared at eachother, their eyes filled with disbelief. Sora swiftly grabbed the wooden sword that he had set down behind him.

"Do not be too relieved just yet, my apprentice." an elderly voice chastised.

"You still have-" the raspy, deep voice was interrupted by the obviously younger voice.

" Yeah, yeah, I know, I have to kidnap those three kids, don't remind me." the young voice rudely ordered.

"Igneous, as my apprentice, you must surely know that I do not tolerate being ordered around by my students, especially when I was kindly reminding you of what lies ahead." he reminded Igneous, the teenage apprentice.

"Yes, Master, I understand." the ashamed teen claimed.

"I promise not to-" Igneous was reminded of his rudeness by being interrupted by the old man that he called "Master".

"What's up with the old geezer?" asked Sora.

No answer, again...I hate it when people don't answer me. Sora announced silently, obviously unhappy at his friend's repeatative rudeness.

"Actually, Igneous, these "kids" you are assigned to aquire are about your age." the hunched over elder informed.

Riku sighed in tremendous relief, probably because he thought they were going to kidnap him.

"What was that!!" Igneous quickly swiveled his head around.

The little five-year-old gasped as Igneous looked straight-on at the boys' hiding place, being so suprised and scared that he stomped one foot backward. The only problem with that, is that he squished Sora's foot in the process.

Sora let out a yelp, in reply to having his friend's huge foot come down abruptly on his own: "Ow! Ow! Ow!" he squealed as he snatched back his foot and started jumping around, as if he was barefoot on hot coals.

"What the-" Igneous was interrupted by Sora's revenge.

"OWWWWW!" Riku screamed. "That hurt!" Riku scolded.

"You hurt my foot more!" Sora yelled in anger.

"Me?" Riku asked. "How could I possibly hurt a big clown foot like yours?!" Riku frustratedly questioned.

While the two boys were arguing, they didn't notice that the old man was heading towards them.

Finally, they stopped arguing after about ten minutes of flinging insults at eachother, and noticed that the creepy old man was only two feet away, staring down on them condescendingly.

"Oh, so we have two little spies on our hands, Igneous." the Master smiled his normal smile; a maniacal grin.

"But not very good ones, am I right, Master?" Igneous smiled in unison.

"Uh-oh!" Sora and Riku had noticed that it was time to go.

They sped out of the cave as fast as they could, about ready to crap their pants off.

"After them, Igneous, we cannot have them alert the townspeople to our activities here." the elder ordered. "Capture them, and bring them to me. I will do the rest." he ordered Igneous once again.

"As you wish, Master Xehanort."

-It all began with Birth by Sleep-


	2. Terra's Story:Book 1:Chapter 1

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep Zero-Terra's Story, Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER:I do not own Kingdom Hearts, only my own characters in this story. Kingdom Hearts belongs to Disney, Square-Enix, and Tetsuya Nomura(Yay Nomura-san!).

The only thing I could see was Darkness; pure, shadowy Darkness.

I couldn't tell up from down, but I knew I was sinking deeper into the neverending, black abyss. Nothing but fear had embraced me, sending overwashing pulses of terror through my heart.

_Fear? Fear of what? _That was the confusing part;everything here was tranquil, and as silent as the dead.

No, everything wasn''t silent. I could hear the faint, but harsh howling of something that reminded me of the wind. I could feel it caressing my skin; silky, but fierce wind.

Below me shone a circular, stained glass pillar. It had a knight on it, or something that _looked _like a knight. He had a helmet made out of a tarnished, bronze gold. The weird part was that the helm had something like metal "ears" on it. His armor had three colors: crimson red, deep black, and darkened gold.

This "knight" looked familiar, but I have never seen anything or anyone similar to it.

In the background was a barren, desolate wasteland that had befallen under the night sky. The star-speckled sky held a yellow heart-shaped moon that had a blueish aura. Right under the "moon" stood a lone, altitudinous pillar of dark brown rock.

A voice had sounded in my head. _"This is your Destiny." _

Three white pedestals arose in front of me. Above them bright lights shone blindingly until they formed into three objects:

a staff, a sword, and a shield. _"Choose your Destiny well, young one." _the voice had called again.

"Wait!" I yelled. "I have a question!"

_"You are not supposed to talk to me, you know?" _he advised me._ "You're supposed to be quiet and choose a weapon, if you haven't noticed."_

"Just one question!" I stubbornly yelped.

_"WHAT IS IT!?" _he yelled back.

"You told me that the picture on the pillar here was my Destiny, but then you said I had to choose my Destiny."

_"Yes, yes, get to the point..." _he sighed dramatically.

"If I already see my Destiny on this pillar's mural, then how could I choose my Destiny?" I inquired. "If I already know my unevitable fate, would anything really make a difference?"

"It's coming no matter what I do, right?"

_"Just hurry up and choose a weapon, so we can get on with our lives." _

I've always hated it when people never answer my questions. _Sheesh, it was just a simple question. He doesn't have to get all whiny about it._

I declared silently. _Well, I guess he must be pissy from just being here all alone. I mean, if I had no friends..._

_"I heard that, you little fiend!" _he howled.

I repudiated him and walked around, browsing around each weapon, as I was "instructed" to do. I snatched up the staff into my grasp. It had a lime green handle, with a blue star at the top. _"Ah, yes." _the voice spoke in yearning, as if he were remembering something from long ago. _"The Power of the Mystic-"_he paused abruptly. _"Inner Strength, a Staff of Wonder and Ruin."_

Another ten minutes passed by as I stared down at the staff like a deer in the headlights, except for the fact that I had one eyebrow raised.

"So, did you get that off a fortune cookie?"

He sighed monstrously. _"Just shut up and choose a fricken weapon, okay? _he uttered. "Wait, I have another question!" I shouted.

_"Too bad, little boy." _he pitilessly insulted.

I looked around at the other weapons, first the shield, then the sword. Finally, I chose the sword. It was like one of those typical swords;nothing special to it, except the star on the top of the hilt. Then, I stared at the shield again;it had a star on it too.

_I guess whoever made these weapons really like stars..._I surmised.

I picked up the sword again and held it close to my face, seeing if I could find an engraving of the creator's initials anywhere.

_There! _I excitedly yelped in my mind. It was on the back of the golden hilt. The initials were..."N.O.Y.B".

"Well, that's informative." I sarcastically

_"Do you even know what those initials stand for?" _the voice questioned.

"Nicholas, Onion, Yellow, Bob?" I answered, hoping I was right.

_"Yep, Nicholas of the Yellow Onions, friend of Bob." _ Right after, he started snickering. Though, I thought his snickering sounded more like a constipated duck, but you get the point.

"YES!!" I screamed as loud as I could. "I HAVE VICTORY!!" I yelled, totally unaware of how idiotic I looked.

_"Well, since you're so fired up, I should give you your test, right?" _

"Bring it on!" Man, I thought I could face the entire world without anything but my fists, tied behind my back.

_"We should give your power a form." _he suggested. _"Hmmmmmm...I think I have an idea that is befitting your power's personality." _he claimed.

My right hand had become instantly numb and clammy. For some reason, I couldn't move any parts of my body except my lungs, which had become a little heavy. Heavy with what? That I did not know. Anticipation, perhaps? Well, whatever the reason, I knew that one moment soon, my life would change drastically.

All of the sudden, my hand was engulfed in a strange, pure light. The light swirled up my arm,exploded into a white ring, and became little digital blocks that had two different colors; the smaller blue ones that covered almost all of my hand, and two golden outer rings that were in the center. It had three types of "particles": The small blue ones, the large gold outer rings, and large blue ones that covered the tip of my fingers, and my wrist. In a flash, the particles were gone, and were replaced by a huge, heavy blade.

All I could do was stare at it for what seemed like hours.

It's handle was a dark, creamy white. Around the bottom of the handle was a cerulean-blue handguard that spread out like boxy wings, about four inches long, and were connected to the two side handguards that were in the shape of a fancy "L". The one on the left side looked like the "L" was backwards. A little before the top of the side handguards were two small pieces of metal that connected the handguards to the hilt. From the hilt sprouted a pure black rod of steel that went straight up the length of the blade, creating the tip. On the middle part of the blade, around the black rod on both sides were copper, equally cut pieces of metal, that had six "slits" on each side. The middle part came up to the upper blade. The upper blade had three pieces of metal sticking out: the ones on the right, and the left both had different lengths. On the right side, the top was the longest, the middle was the shortest, and the bottom one was inbetween the other lengths. On the left side, the chunks of metal were much shorter. At the tip, on both sides were two rounded chunks of steel that each had three points of tarnished gold upon them.

This weird blade looked kind of like a giant key.

_"Do you like it?" _the voice asked in anticipation of the young man's response, which was hopefully going to be a positive one.

I rubbed my spiky, brown hair all the way to the back of my head. "Well, I think it looks..."

It was difficult to find the specific word. "It's, uh, unique?" I answered.

I would have usually said that is was weird, strange, and downright ugly, but I didn't want to rain on this guy's, or voices's "parade".

_"Wonderful!" _the voice happily yelled. _"I even power-washed it ten times, waxed it four times, and repainted it six times, so it should be pretty clean."_he informed me.

I looked down at the blade to see my blue eyes staring back at me.

"How long did you work on this..."thing"?" I asked, to try to convince him even more that I actually cared about this "work of art".

_"Thing?" _

He was starting to actually sound mad. The stained glass mural started to shake, as if it was the voice's fist.

_"You call this a "thing" when I've worked on it for over eight months?" _

_"God, I swear Chasers like me NEVER get any credit for our hard work; do this, do that, work on a weapon for over eight months and have no thanks for it, even disrespectfully calling my hard work a "thing"!" _he complained.

I replied quickly:"Well, you never told me what it was called, right?" I defended, hoping to calm him down a little.

_"You're right." _he admitted. _"Sorry, sometimes I can't really control myself." _he apologized.

"Yeah, I kinda noticed." I knew the instant after I said that, I shouldn't have. Thankfully, the voice was too caught up in memories of his anger fits to notice, because right after I had said it, the voice answered simply; _"What did you say?"_

"Nothing, nothing at all." I fibbed.

_"Well, this "thing" is called a Keyblade." _he informed me. _"It is the strongest weapon in the existence of everything."_

_"Though, this specific one is called Eternal Horizon." _

_It's looks horrible, and has a cheesy name? _I asked myself, almost laughing out loud.

_What next? A cape and a little sidekick named Butt-Ugly Jr.? _

The voice had been ranting on about the Keyblade's "awesome powers" for a while now, and thankfully I had listened to the beggining of it, because that's all the voice had talked about for the past ten minutes:

_"Eight months?" _

_"Can you believe it, working eight months on just one thing?"_

_"EIGHT MONTHS!!"_

_"In fact, eight's my favorite number."_

_"I was just as suprised as you, eight months of hard labor..."_

_"God, yesterday I had to go to the bathroom eight times." _

_"I mean, Mom DID tell me that eight pots of beans wouldn't be too good for me..."_

_"But then again, my sister put eight laxatives in each pot of beans, so..."_

_"Man, those eight months really took a toll on me."_

_"Eight hours on the toilet does wonders for you, you know."_

Thankfully, the voice stopped ranting on the "number eight" thing, and told me to look behind me.

Responding to his request, I watched in awe as a small, crimson-eyed creatures rose from outta nowhere.

They had gray silky material for skin, arms and legs that came out to a point, and they had little earlike points off of the top corners of their heads.

_"The Unbirths have come to say hello, Terra." _I could just imagine the smirk on the voice's face; sitting there, laughing at me.

"Aren't you going to help me?" I asked desperately.

_"Why should I?" _he asked, almost with a tint of humor. It enraged me, so much that I muttered in frustration:

"I hate you so much..."

_"And I thought we could be best buds." _the voice called back in joyful sarcasm.

"Since when do "best buds" tell eachother how it felt to have diarrhea for eight hours straight?" I asked in rage.

_"You know, you really shouldn't put people down like that." _

The voice's taunts just got crappier and crappier each time they flew out his mouth.

"People?" I asked. "You're just a forty-year-old fatty who lives with his mother and sister, and the only life you have is making weird, giant keys, and telling people your "adventures" in the bathroom."

"That's the most depressing existence I have ever known." I insulted.

You see, for me, making jokes is what I do best. It's the only way I can defend myself, that, and my fists.

_"How did you know all of that stuff about me?" _the voice questioned.

I started to sigh, but then I started rolling on the floor, laughing harder then I thought I ever could have.

The so-called Unbirths looked at me and cocked their heads to the side, confused almost as much as the voice was.

_"Unbirths, attack this fiend!" _the voice ordered.

They attacked before the voice gave the order, surprising me. The one in the middle struck out at me, giving me a cut that made me grimace. Crimson oozed from the deep gash. My arm had started to burn like crazy, throbbing from the pain. But, I don't give up so easily...

I summoned the Keyblade,even though I didn't know how. I guess it just comes to you when you need it.

I dodged as the Unbirth on the left struck out it's hand. It was suprised to see itself miss me, it being much faster than I was.

I ducked as the one on the right had swept it's transformed, barbed arm at my head.

Opportunity was mine, I had realized, and I swept my Keyblade through the silky flesh of the two unsuspecting Unbirths. The result held success; they dissolved away into gray dust, scattering ashes around the mural.

The last one had caught my attention as it danced around the platform, scrutinizing my every move, keeping a watch to see if I would make any sudden moves.

_"You know Terra, I'd be glad to tell you that the longer the Unbirths study you, they start to know your every move, your techniques, and your weak points."_

"Good, something more challenging." I taunted, keeping an eye on the Unbirth.

All of the sudden it was above me. The only thing I saw for a few moments were barbed Unbirth arms flailing about in front of my face.

_What is that thing doing? _I asked in wonder.

Soon enough, I found out.

Oh no! A cliffhanger! Oh well, I guess you'll have to wait a for a little bit to find out what this Unbirth is doing. Please review, I can't go on writing this story without any feedback, can I?


	3. Terra's Story:Book 1:Chapter 2

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep Zero-Terra's Story-Chapter 2

The only thing I saw for a few moments was the flailing of barbed Unbirth arms.

It wasn't even slashing my face, so it didn't seem like it was attacking me. Or so I thought...

The Unbirth had stopped swinging it's arms around, and had started to gaze up into the black abyss above us, as if it was waiting for a command from the voice. It turns out that I was right.

The voice had said only one simple sentence: _"If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands." _

In the Unbirth's response, it clapped it's hands, and time had seemed to stop.

I waited for what seemed like hours on end, for what, I didn't know.

All of the sudden, everything was red. Blood had started to gush out of my face, shooting out from multiple cuts.

Time had come back to normal speed, grimacing pain came along with it.

I fell over, burying my face in my hands, hoping that the pain would cease.

Pain had been there constantly, not even throbbing, just staying there for what seemed like an eternity.

_"Giving up already Terra?"_

Tears rained down onto the mural, making me feel so pathetic and helpless.

_"I thought you could do better than that." _

God, did he make me angry...

_"Poor Terra, crying like a weak little baby." _

"Oh really?" I started. "If I'm such a big baby, then why don't you just come down here and kill me?"

_"Me, kill a pathetic weakling like you, how cruel do you think I am?"_

The Unbirth had been dormant for while, staring at me, waiting to see if it had killed me yet.

Picking myself up, I targeted it's position.

I sprinted towards the Unbirth, raising my Keyblade in the process, ready to strike at it.

It looked surprised to see me standing, and running, for it just stood there in awe.

_Man, that thing is dumb, it's just waiting for me to come and kill it._

As soon as I struck my Keyblade down, the Unbirth swiftly moved out of my attack's way.

I shifted around, trying to strike the Unbirth down in the process. It grabbed my left arm and twisted itself around it, tightening with each second.

Instantly, I tried to pull it off, but each time I did, it got tighter.

"Get off of me!" I ordered, hoping that the Unbirth wouldn't stop the blood flow to my arm.

Finally, it stopped. Though, much to my dismay it covered it's skin with tiny needles, digging them into me.

Once again, blood spurted out of my flesh, though this time it was only for a few seconds.

The Unbirth let go with satisfaction, for it danced once again around the platform.

I ran as fast as I could, getting my Keyblade ready for wiping off that smug look on the Unbirth's face.

This time I had finally killed it, scattering even more ashes onto the blood that had carpeted the mural.

_"Good job, Terra." _

From out of nowhere, I heard soft clapping.

_"Here's your reward."_

A strange green light surrounded my body, healing every wound I had gained.

Three lights had appeared above the mural, forming into three treasure chests.

_"I'm sure it'll help you for the next trial." _

"Next trial?" I asked in disbelief. "There's another one?"

_"Come on Terra, I thought you liked challenges."_

I walked over to the first chest, opened it, and saw what was inside: a bottle that had a green lid and with green liquid inside.

"What is this?" I asked.

_"It's a potion, just drink it and it will heal you."_

Opening the bottle, I saw a green waft of smell come from the liquid.

_"Oh yeah, that's a special potion, makes your breath smell better."_

I shrugged, hoping that it wasn't a trick before swallowing it.

I spit it out instantly.

"It tastes like chocolate flavored toothpaste." I announced, being honest to the voice for once.

_"That's the point."_

_"You can't be a brave hero of the Keyblade and have smelly breath, can you?"_he pointed out.

"I guess not." I didn't know anything about "brave heroes" of the Keyblade, so I just went along with him. I put the green lid back on the half of a potion.

_"Open the other chests." _he ordered me.

"Why are you being nice to me, when a few minutes ago you were trying to kill me?" I asked, confused about his mood swings.

He ignored me, so I went to the second chest and opened it. Inside, was another bottle filled with green liquid, except this time it had a blue cap on it.

"And this is?"

_"It's an ether, refills your magic energy."_

"Magic?" I asked, half hoping he was lying, and half hoping that he wasn't.

_"You'll find out soon enough." _

After that, he started laughing again.

_I hate how he laughs... _I said to myself.

I walked over to the third chest, and yet again found a bottle of green liquid with a red cap.

_"That's an elixir, heals your wounds and refills your magic energy."_

I jammed the three bottles into my pant's pocket.

_"Now for the best part."_

In front of me, a huge gray ribbon rose from the mural, reforming into a giant, gray monster.

It looked like a larger version of the small Unbirths, except that it had teeth, four arms, and tentacles shaped like ribbons coming from it's back, much too many to count.

_"Before you stands an Unbirth named Dribbon." _ he told me.

_"Now, attack this unworthy fool." _On it's cue, the Unbirth smiled a toothy grin, happy to oblige to it's Master's order.

It's first attack was a simple swat from it's lower right arm. Luckily, it missed me by a few inches.

The second attack didn't phase me either; the Unbirth just kept swatting at me for about ten minutes, getting angrier at it's inability to land a single blow.

_This Unbirth is even dumber than the small ones. _

_"Have you forgotten what I have told you Terra?" _the voice questioned, making me jerk my head up at the sudden remark.

The ribbons on the Dribbon's back shot past me. In response, I turned around to see the ribbons shooting towards me. I raised my Keyblade to cut through them, but when I did, they reformed and grabbed my wrist and lifted me into the air. Then it grabbed me again, then tossed me up again, then grabbed me again.

_"That's so cute, he's playing catch with you." _he snickered his constipated duck laugh again.

_"You know I could tell you that..." _

I couldn't really hear him between my dizzy head, and the sound of the air rushing around my ears.

_There must be a weak point somewhere..._

I scanned over every place of the Unbirth's body, looking for a place to land a critical hit.

_Maybe it's heart is it's weak spot. _

As the Unbirth's hand was thrown up to catch me, I dodged it and put my Keyblade in position to stab the unsuspecting Unbirth.

" A solid hit!" I yelled as I stabbed my Keyblade into the monster's heart.

The Unbirth screamed in pain as it collasped over. Though, I couldn't get my Keyblade unstuck from the terrified Unbirth, so I fell over with it.

I coughed from the Unbirth's ashes going into my throat.

_"So, you found the weak spot, Terra." _the voice casually spoke.

"Well, the heart was the most obvious place, wasn't it?" I asked.

_"Yes, the heart is always the most obvious weak spot."_ the voice agreed.

_"Always remember that." _

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

The voice just laughed for a few minutes, echoing through the endless darkness, before everything faded away into nothing.


	4. Terra's Story:Book 1:Chapter 3

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep-Book 1-Chapter 3

DISCLAIMER:I do not own Kingdom Hearts,Squeenix, and Tetsuya Nomura do. Disney worlds belong to Disney.

I sprung up from my bed, surprised and excited about my recent dream.

_"Always remember that." _the ominous voice had told me never to forget that the Heart is the most obvious weak point.

In a way, I knew what he was talking about, but then I didn't know what he was talking about.

It confused me so much that I spent ten minutes thinking about it, wondering if this was a hint to future events.

_Probably._ I answered myself.

For some reason, that dream was so real; too real for me to ignore it.

I scanned over my room; same green walls, green carpets, a little messy here and there.

A typical seventeen-year-old's room. At least I thought so.

Looking out my window, I knew that it was still nighttime.

There was a disturbance off on the play island, the one that those two little boys, Sora and Riku, played on constantly.

I heard yelling and screaming, as if the world was ending. _What trouble did they get into now? _I asked myself knowing that Riku and Sora always got into trouble doing something.

_At least I never got caught. _I chuckled, remembering all of the things I had done when I was little.

I curled my right hand into a fist, still remembering the icy metal of the Keyblade.

_I wonder if I can still summon it. _In unison, I reached out my right hand towards some unknown destination hoping to summon the Keyblade once again.

_Nope, can't summon it. _

Despite the fact of it being the middle of the night, I jumped out of bed still wearing nothing but boxers and t-shirt.

I hopped out of the window and started sprinting towards my boat hoping to see what Sora and Riku were doing.

Usually they got into trouble for really dumb reasons, like when they got into trouble for running around naked playing with the Mayor's hose.

Or when they put chewed up chewing gum all over the street so that Sora's mom couldn't leave for work that day. Obviously, it didn't stop Sora's mom's car.

I remember Ven's, my best friend, shoes had gum on their soles for weeks. He was so angry at them for months after that, same as the rest of the town was.

I got into my wooden boat and drifted out to sea a little bit before rowing the oars, heading in the direction of the play island.

A few pieces of wood floated past me, along with some nails and two oars.

_They probably smashed their boats by play-fighting. _I guessed.

As I got closer to the island, I saw that they were being chased around by some tall shadowy figure.

"Sora!" Riku screamed.

"He's chasing us!"Riku screamed again.

"It's all your fault, Riku!" Sora yelled back, blaming him for some unknown act.

"If you didn't make me go to that stupid cave, this wouldn't have happened!"

"How was I supposed to know that the creepy old geezer would be there?" Riku asked, trying to get Sora to stop blaming him.

"I got you, little boy!" the figure shouted as he grabbed Riku.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" Riku shouted in defeat.

"RIKU, DON'T LEAVE ME!!"

I started rowing as fast as I possibly could. Finally I got to the island, running towards the battle of Riku and the shadowy figure.

The figure turned out to be a boy about my age with bright, spiky orange hair, and bright green eyes. He had on a black-exoskeleton suit,

_What an ugly combination. _I silently insulted.

Sora had fallen over in tears, and Riku had been knocked out. I decided that it was time to step in.

"Isn't it kind of sad that you get your kicks by torturing little children?" I asked, hoping to get his attention.

"Who said this was any of your business?" he retaliated.

He turned around and casually walked towards the secret cave, Riku hanging over his shoulder.

I walked over to Sora, who was bawling his eyes off.

"Sora?" I asked.

He looked up at me, got up, and hugged my leg as hard as he could.

"Hello there, young one." an elderly voice echoed from the cave.

I stared at the entrance, and by doing so, I saw an elderly old man emerge from the shadows.

He was bald with orange eyes, pointy ears, and the only hair he had was a silver goatee on his chin.

He was wearing a black coat with no hood, that had many belts and straps on it. Under the coat was a white shirt with black buttons, that split into a v-shape at his thighs. His leather coat went all the way down to his ankles. On his hands were white gloves that had three buttons, somewhat matching his undershirt. Under his cape, he had black pants, and black boots that went up to his knees, covering about half of his legs.

Dangling in his hand was Riku, held by the back of his shirt.

"Let him go!" I yelled, desperate to make sure that he wouldn't harm Riku.

"I see..." the old man simply answered.

Sora had let go of my leg and had picked up his wooden sword, aiming it at the old man.

"Throw that at me child, and you'll never see this boy again." he threatened.

Sora threw it anyway, and it hit the old man right on the head.

"I have warned you child." the old man smiled maniacally. Poking Riku in a certain spot on his neck, Riku awakened from his fainting looking more scared than ever.

"What happened?" Riku asked, half in reality.

"This boy has forgotten everything that has happened tonight." the old man claimed. "Now young man, give me the other one so they can return to their warm beds and forget this ever happened."

"Why should I trust you?" I asked.

"Because if you don't give him to me right now, I will have to kill them both." he warned.

I looked down at Sora, then at the old man. "Fine."

"No Terra!' Sora screamed as the orange-haired teen grabbed him from me.

The old man hit Sora and Riku on the neck with two fingers, in result, they fainted.

All three of them disappeared for a moment, then the old man returned alone.

"Where did you take them?"

"I put them back in their beds, just as I said I would." the elder claimed.

"Now Igneous, grab this boy." the man ordered. Before I could respond, Igneous did just as the old man said, and grabbed me by the ankles.

"What are you doing?" I questioned.

"I am bringing you along so you can help us find some certain people." the old man replied.

I struggled for a while, but I stopped only because Igneous was much stronger than me.

We arrived on the main island where the town was. "Now, the first target is a fifteen-year-old boy named Ventus Toshi." "Do you know this boy?" he leaned in close to my face, so close that I could smell his breath. And I'll tell you, it wasn't pleasant.

In fact, I did know Ventus. He was the friend I told you about earlier, Ven. But I wasn't going to tell the old man that.

I remember the first day I met Ven-

About a year ago, when I was sixteen, and Ven was fourteen, I woke up at 4:00 AM, because someone was groaning really loudly. So, I got up out of bed and jumped out of the window to go tell whoever was moaning to shut up. Finally I got to the source, and I found a blonde, spiky-haired boy rolling on the sand, groaning like a dying cow.

I went up close to see who he was, and I found out that he was actually sleeping.

I poked him for about ten minutes before he finally woke up. He asked me where he was, and who I was.

I told him that I was the most awesome person in the world, and that he had been lucky to be able to talk to me. He didn't believe me, of course.

Finally I got some information out of him. I guessed he had amnesia, or some kind of memory loss, because he told me that he knew only his name and age. Taking pity on him, I escorted him back to my house, hoping my mother would take him in.

She did.

Ever since that day, Ven and I have been friends. I guess he took a liking to me because I was the first thing and person he had ever seen after losing his memory.

"Do you know this boy or not?"

The elderly man jerked me out of my memories with the repeated question.

"Nope, not at all." I lied.

"Do not lie to me." the old man warned me.

Igneous started pounding me, and after a few minutes the old man asked another question.

"Where does Ventus Toshi live?"

"Why should I tell you?" I asked casually.

"Because I said so." the old man said back.

I lay there on the ground for a few minutes, glancing at Igneous once or twice.

Three simple words: "Igneous, kill him."

"Fine!" I yelled. "Fine, I'll tell you where he lives." I hoped Ven wouldn't be too mad at me.

"Very good, tell us." the old man commanded.

"It's just up the street, six houses." I winced at imagining Ven's expression when he found out that I told his kidnappers where he lived.

"You better be telling the truth or I'll-"

"Igneous, leave him alone." Igneous started muttering after that. I didn't know what he said because I was still being dragged on the sand.

Ten minutes later Igneous came out dragging Ven out of his house. "Let me go!" Ven shouted.

"Ow!" Igneous yelped. I saw that Ven had dug his teeth in Igneous's arm, biting down as hard as he could.

"Hi Ven."

He looked at me, then at Igneous.

"They're trying to kidnap you." I informed the stunned teen.

"I noticed, thanks for the info." Ven sarcastically thanked me.

"Now, we need to find Aqua Haruki."

Ven and I looked at eachother, our eyes were wide open;Aqua was our best friend.

"She's on the next street, three houses down." Ven stared at me in confusion.

"Why are you helping them?" Ven whispered.

"Because they'll kill me if I don't."

"Kill you?" Ven laughed.

"The old guy's tougher than he looks." I claimed.

Igneous had gone into Aqua's house and dragged her out as well.

"I swear it, carrot-top, touch me and you're dead." the blue-haired girl warned.

"I'd like to see you try, little girl." Igneous smirked.

"Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you-"Igneous grinned at me, and I hoped he wasn't going to say what I thought he was going to say.

"Your little friend here," he nodded at me."was the one who told us where you lived."

Aqua and Ven both stared at me for a few minutes. I knew they would give me revenge one day, and I DID deserve it, I guess.

"Now we need Terra Hamada."

He leaned in close to me again, invading my personal space and my breathing space.

"Nope, never heard of him." I enunciated quickly.

Master Xehanort looked at Ven and Aqua, who smiled evilly;the day of revenge had arrived.

Now all three of us were being dragged towards the edge of town.

Master Xehanort shot out his gloved hand in front of him, and a huge dark portal appeared in front of us.

"Happy flying!" Igneous said as he threw all three of us into the dark void.

NOTE:If anyone finds this chapter to be dirty, or perverted, please don't take it that way. This story has no yaoi, and is not written to be meant as perverted. Happy Day!

ALSO: If anyone can tell me what Ven's last name means in English(his last name is Japanese), you'll get an extra chapter per chapter I write this week! (Ven's last name is Toshi) If you do know what his last name means, you'll understand why I chose that specific one. At the end of this week, I will tell you what his last name means, if no one has guessed yet.


	5. Terra's Story:Book 1:Chapter 4

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep Zero-Chapter 4

DISCLAIMER:Terra, Aqua, Ven, DS/Igneous, and Master Xehanort belong to Squeenix, Disney stuff belongs to Disney.

I opened my eyes slowly to find myself in a pine green room that held only two small windows. Sitting up, I saw that the floor had carpet that matched the walls around me. Everything in this room was pine green;the carpet, the walls, the bed I was sitting on, even the windows had a green rim on them. The only thing different was a pure black cat sitting at the foot of the bed.

I have always hated cats; ever since I was little, all the cats I ever got close to ran away, and whenever I've tried to pet them, they either hiss or bite me.

Trying to avoid having holes in my foot, I reached out my hand to push the cat off of the bed. Instead, the cat hissed and stared daggers at me.

It jumped off of the bed and trotted out the green door of the room.

_Well, that solves my problem._

I laid back down, too bleary-eyed to investigate where I was.

A few minutes later, the cat came back with the elder named Xehanort behind it.

"You have awakened." Xehanort announced.

I stared at him for a few minutes, then I questioned him:

"Where are my friends?"

"They are next door to you." the old man claimed.

I instantly jumped out of the bed, hoping to meet my friends. Xehanort thrust his arm in front of me with surprising speed for an old man.

"Not so fast, young man."

"Move." I simply commanded.

"How rude you are," the man started. "ordering someone like me, who could easily kill you with one hand tied behind his back."

"I'd like to see you try, old geezer." I grinned.

"Geezer?" he asked.

"Is that the name you title me as?"

"Yep." I answered.

"Then I suggest you not use it once again, or I will have to kill you for such disrespect." he warned.

"And your point is?" I dared to say.

"I have warned you child, one more-"

"Your breath stinks like a cow barn, garlic, and rotten eggs mixed together, did you know that?" I interrupted.

The man shut his amber eyes tight, trying desperately to keep his anger from flying off of the hook. I noticed this and smirked, an insult floating in my mind.

"Oh yeah, and you look like Mr.Clean too."

"That is it!" he yelled, letting go of his bottled-up anger.

He thrust out his right hand, and in unison a dark mist surrounded it.

"This is your last chance, imbecile, one more little peep out of you and I'll stab you."

The dark mist formed into a onyx black weapon, and it's blade looked like a black and purple flame. A small chain dangled off of the handle. It looked similar to a giant key.

_A Keyblade? _I asked myself.

"So, Mr.Clean, do you have any products that could make that Keyblade any uglier?" I laughed as hard as I could.

"How do you know about the Keyblade?" he questioned, surprised at the knowledge I held.

"Why do you care, old geezer?" I grinned.

I ran past him and out of the room, knowing that the old man was probably about ready to stab the crap out of me.

In front of me stood a huge hallway decorated with crimson and golden-yellow. I glanced behind me; the old man was running after me, surprisingly keeping up.

_He'll get tired before long._ I guessed.

I was wrong; he had kept up with me for the past ten minutes, making me even more exausted just thinking about it.

My feet slid across the floor as I came to a turn. I slid so much that my shoulder brushed the marble wall that originally was twenty feet away. The elder slid as well, except that he slammed into the wall instead.

"Come back here!" he yelled in fury.

I waved back at him, hoping to frustrate him even more. I didn't know why, but making him angry made my day even better.

I didn't know if he had gotten up from his fall yet, or if he had even gotten up at all because I knew if he caught me, I would be turned into mince-meat, so I just kept running wherever I felt I wanted to.

I came to another huge hallway, except that this one was filled with colors of blue and gold. This hallway was even bigger than the last one. There were other people in this hallway;some dressed in maid outfits, others with extremely odd clothing, some in armor that looked medevil, kinda like that guy in the armor that was on the mural.

As I ran past they all stared at me, surprised that some weird teen in a t-shirt and boxers was running around the hallway, I assume.

I had started sweating a long time ago, but now my whole shirt was soaked.

"Catch him!" Xehanort ordered the people standing in the hallway.

That made me run even faster, especially when I looked back to see a whole mob of people chasing me.

"Block the hallways!" one of the armored people ordered.

Hearing that, I leaped out of a huge, open window. Thankfully, I was on the first floor of the castle, for when I looked up, the castle towered above me several hundred meters.

Lush, green grass was pressed to the dirt as I ran for my life, not forgetting that about a hundred people were chasing after me. When I was little, I had always wished that when I grew up, people would be shouting my name and a mob of people would be chasing after me. I had never thought it would be under these circumstances, though.

Xehanort had jumped out of the window as well, and was right behind me.

"You cannot run forever, little boy!" he yelled.

I chuckled even though I knew that Xehanort's blade was only a few feet away, ready to stab me at any moment.

I would've added an insult to my laugh, but at the moment my only focus was to get away from Xehanort.

There was nothing but green grass everywhere, the castle standing off in the distance. A few trees were scattered here and there, but there was nothing else.

Xehanort had slowed down, and was about half of a mile away. Then he lowered himself and panted for a minute.

I knew this was my chance to rest as well, so I headed toward one of the trees, climbed up it's trunk, and settled down on one of it's branches.

I sat there for about twenty minutes, staring off in the distance at Xehanort's position.

Finally, he had started running towards me once again.

I leaped off of the tree and sprinted towards the castle again. Xehanort just stopped where he was and stared at me as I ran past. I knew that it would probably be easier to hide in the castle than in an open field, so I jumped back into the window, avoiding the crowds of people that skirted the edges of the castle.

After a few minutes of running, my face hit the marble floor as I tripped. I stared behind me to see that I had tripped over an oversized mouse carrying a stack of books.

Xehanort caught up to me once again, and smirked as he saw that I had tripped.

"Thank you, Mickey." the old man thanked the mouse dressed in black.

"Excuse me, Master Xehanort?" he asked confused.

"What are you thanking me for?"

"You have stopped a disrespectful little cockroach that had thought he could run away from me."

I snorted loudly at the elder's comment.

"You have to rely on an oversized mouse to catch me, old geezer?" I asked.

The mouse named Mickey gasped loudly, as if I had committed a horrible crime.

"I will ask your master to raise your rank, Mickey." the old man promised.

Mickey leaped in joy, as if making this geezer happy was his goal in life.

_Talk about mood swings._

At the end of the long hallway where all three of us were, a tall robed man walked toward us.

To my surprise, Ven and Aqua were trailing along behind him. As they drew nearer, Mickey bowed his head to the tall figure. Xehanort looked at him for a long time, not paying attention to me at all.

The figure turned out to be a blue-robed man that had a long, gray beard and a tall, pointy hat that had moons and stars upon it.

"Welcome, Master Yen Sid." Xehanort greeted.

"Why is this boy laying upon the floor?" Yen Sid questioned.

"Well-" Xehanort was interrupted by Yen Sid chastising him.

"I have asked you to bring this boy to me in perfect condition, so why is he laying on the dirty floor, with your boot pressed on his back?"

"Ask the boy yourself." Xehanort commanded.

Yen Sid stared at me for a while, but I didn't look back at him.

"Speak."Xehanort ordered.

I shoved Xehanort's boot off of my back, rolled over and randomly shot a glob of spit at him, hitting his face. I watched in glee as it rolled down his cheek. Xehanort just scowled.

"You see, Yen Sid, this is why I didn't leave him in "perfect condition"."

"Get up." Yen Sid commanded me.

I picked myself up and stared straight at Yen Sid's face.

"Hi Terra." Ven and Aqua greeted in unison.

"Come over here, young man."

I slowly walked to the front of the second old man, finding out that his breath smelled even worse than Xehanort's.

He swiftly grabbed my arm and started to walk away. I obediently followed him now that I had been reunited with my friends.

"Bye Geezernort!" I waved at him once again.

He glared at me, turned around, and walked away.

Ven laughed, and Aqua giggled. Even Yen Sid grinned for a short moment.

"So, why was the old man chasing after you?" Ven asked

"I insulted him a few times." I casually answered.

"A few?" Aqua asked, somehow knowing that I had fibbed.

"Well, you get the point, right?"

All three of us laughed for a while, Mickey joining in.

"Why is that creepy mouse-thing following us?" Aqua questioned.

"Creepy?" Mickey raised his head.

"This is my apprentice Mickey." Yen Sid announced.

"Apprentice?" all three of us asked.


	6. Terra's Story:Book 1:Chapter 5

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep Zero-Book 1:Chapter 5

DISCLAIMER:I do not own characters Terra, Aqua, Ven, Master Xehanort, and DS/Igneous. They belong to Squeenix and Nomura-san. I do not own any Disney worlds, Yen Sid, Mickey, or any other Disney characters, they belong to Disney.

_Apprentice? _I wondered to myself.

"Where are we, anyway?" I questioned my friends.

"How am I supposed-" Ven started, but was interrupted by the elder named Yen Sid.

"You are in the castle where people train to master the secrets of the Keyblade."

"Keyblade?" Aqua and Ven were completely blank, unlike I was;the dream I had was still fresh in my mind.

_"Well, you never told me what it was called, right?"_

_"This "thing" is called the Keyblade, it is the strongest weapon in the existence of everything."_

After the flashback ended, I struggled to remember what the voice had called my weapon.

_Eternal...something. I DO remember it had a pretty cheesy name, though. _Well, at least I thought so.

My friends noticed my absence of focusing on the present, for Ven waved his hand in front of my face to snap me out of my flashback.

Upon returning to the present, I felt pressure on my wrist. Turning to look at it, I noticed that Yen Sid still had his hand glued to the same spot for the past few minutes.

"Uh, mister, ummmm..." I started.

"Yes, child?" he answered my stuttering.

"Are you going to let go of me, or-"

"Yes, yes, sorry." I thought I saw a trace of blush on his pale cheeks as he released his grip.

"Thanks." I muttered quietly.

All four of us plus Mickey were silently walking down the hall, what destination awaited for us was uncertain, except for Yen Sid.

I swiftly sniffed my armpits, which had started to smell like Master Xehanort's breath. Maybe even worse...

Ven noticed this, and started to notice the smell himself. He grimaced, even though he wasn't the closest one to the smell.

Both Aqua and Ven slowly shuffled away from me, but before they could, I wrapped my arm around their shoulders and hugged them. I was much stronger than both of them, so when they tried to shove my arms off of them, I just hugged them even tighter.

"God, Terra!" Aqua yelled in frustration.

"Let us go!" Ven yelled in unison.

"But you're my best friends..." I laughed innocently.

"Yeah, but you smell like a cat's butt, so let go!" Ven yelled while plugging his nose.

"How would you know what a cat's butt smells like?" I asked him.

"Hmmmm, like when you pinned me down to the ground, picked up my cat, and shoved her butt in my face and kept her there for an hour."

"Oh, yeah, now I remember." I remembered the day perfectly, as if it were yesterday.

_I couldn't have forgotten that even if I tried. _I said to myself.

"You remember that!?" I asked Ven loudly.

"It was two weeks ago." he snapped.

Aqua started choking from the smell, so I let both of them go, and they ran ahead of me next to Yen Sid.

Mickey came up behind me and tested out how I smelled, instantly covering his mouth and making a puke noise.

"Do you want a hug too?" I smiled at him, not forgetting how he had tripped me.

He shut his eyes tight a shook his head quickly.

"Awwwww, come on!" I grinned mischievously.

Mickey ran ahead as well, even passing Aqua, Ven, and Yen Sid.

"Lonely, I'm mister lonely..." I started singing.

"More like mister smelly." Aqua replied back.

Finally, we came to our destination; a huge blue and gold door loomed above us, covered with stars and moons like the ones on Yen Sid's hat. Actually, I take that back;it towered above us.

Yen Sid thrust out his pale right hand at the door, and we heard a huge click.

"Mickey, open the door." Yen Sid commanded.

"Can he actually open a door like that?" Ven asked out loud.

In response, Mickey knocked six times, and a human sized door opened out of bigger one.

Yen Sid and Mickey walked through it, and all three of us followed.

Inside was a huge hallway, not unlike the ones outside. It was covered in stars and moons, and the background was a royal blue.

The main hallway split off into several smaller ones, though Yen Sid just passed them and headed for another starry door, about half of the size of the big one that led to the main hall.

Mickey opened the door with ease, and inside was a circular room colored deep crimson red.

A desk stood in the middle of the room, and behind it was a black desk chair facing a set of three huge windows, like any other modern one.

"I have brought you the children you requested for, Master Oni." Yen Sid bowed his head as low as he could;Mickey sunk to the ground and bowed as well.

"Thank you, Yen Sid." a deep, elderly voice echoed from the onyx chair, a familiar one.

For the life of me, I couldn't remember where I had heard that same voice.

"You may return to your duties." the voice offered.

"Certainly."

And with that, Yen Sid and Mickey left the room in silence.

"Your names are Ventus, Aqua, and Terra, correct?" the disembodied voice questioned.

"Actually, I hate the name Ventus, so you can just call me-" Ven was interrupted by Master Oni.

"Yes, that's very nice."

Ven tightened his limp hand into tight fist. He always had hated it when people interrupted him.

Master Oni swiveled his chair around, gluing our eyes to him in awe.

He looked almost exactly like Xehanort;same face, same silver goatee. The only things that kept us from believing it WAS Xehanort, was that instead of amber eyes, he had silvery-white eyes.

His outfit was the complete oppisite of Xehanort's; it was inverted to white, with the underside of the cape inverted to royal blue. His boots were pure white with black rims at the top. The gloves were the only thing not inverted, staying pure white like the rest of his outfit.

"I see you've noticed resemblance between me and my twin." Oni announced.

We nodded in silence.

Master Oni simply grinned, not different from when Xehanort smirked after he found out that I had tripped clumsily over Mickey.

"Well, since you're here, I should probably inform you of why I had people drag you here."


	7. Terra's Story:Book 1:Chapter 6

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep Zero-Book 1:Chapter 6

DISCLAIMER:Terra, Aqua, Ven, MX, and DS/Igneous belong to Nomura-san. Disney stuff and characters belong to Disney.

"So, do you accept my offer?" Master Oni asked.

"What IS your offer?" Ven asked.

"Fufill your destinies, and become my apprentices." Oni looked at us with a sparkle in his white eyes, as if he knew what the future held.

All three of us looked at each other in confusion.

"Apprentices?" Aqua asked quietly, so that only Ven and I could hear.

"I decline." Ven softly answered to Master Oni's offer.

"I do too." Aqua followed.

Master Oni looked quite disappointed, for his grin was replaced by a solemn frown.

"You haven't even had time to think about it." Oni pointed out.

"I don't need to think about it." Ven stubbornly announced.

"I suppose I should have someone take you home then." Oni sighed.

"Wait." Everyone in the circular room turned to look at me, waiting for what I was going to say next.

"I'll become your apprentice." I announced quietly.

"Excuse me, I couldn't hear you clearly." Oni said.

"I will become your apprentice." I repeated loudly.

Ven and Aqua stared at me in surprise, wondering how I could possibly want to become an apprentice to someone I barely knew.

"Terra." Aqua put her hand on my shoulder.

I didn't even look at her, or Ven. I just kept looking straight at Master Oni.

I don't even know why I accepted Master Oni's offer. Maybe it was because that recent dream I had made me think about my destiny, and how I could shape it to match the mural. Somehow, I knew this was the starting point.

That, and my dream AND Master Oni both mentioned Destiny, so there was a slight possibility they were connected. Very slight and doubtful, though.

"You are certain?" Oni asked.

I nodded quickly in reply.

"Very well." The smile that had left him returned.

Ven grabbed my arm and pulled me off to side, asking me what the hell I was thinking.

"Dude, you don't even know this old geezer!" he yelled.

"And your point is?"

He facepalmed himself, suggesting that I was an idiot.

In fact, even though it's sad to admit it, I agree with Ven.

"I assume you would appreciate more...suitable clothes." Master Oni's smile became even bigger.

I nodded quickly as Ven and Aqua remembered how badly I smelled.

"Then I will escort you to your dorm." he offered

"Your apprentice clothing is in your wardrobe."

"Will I be able to see my friends again?" I asked him, hoping that becoming an apprentice wouldn't come between my friends and myself.

"Only if they become my apprentices themselves."

I looked at both Aqua and Ven, who looked a little disheartened.

"It's either them, fufilling your destiny, or both if they accept my offer."

"Wait." Ven interrupted the silence.

"I'll be your apprentice as well."

Master Oni's smile had come to the maximum point.

Aqua stared at her feet for a while, pondering whether to leave her friends behind as she left for home, or to join them.

"I will too." she decided.

After, she whispered to us: "Who's going to make sure you don't kill each other if I'm not here?" she smirked playfully.

Ven and I grinned in unison.

Master Oni got up from his chair and walked past us. "Your dorms are this way."

The small hallways we had passed were now in front of us as Master Oni silently paced down the corridor.

Finally, at the end of the hall were three doors; one that was red with a gold star on it, one that was blue with an silver star on it, and one that was orange with a yellow star on it.

"Choose whichever you feel for."

I ran for the red one, Aqua to the blue one, and Ven ran for the orange one. Surprisingly, Ven and I didn't fight over something for once.

I opened the door slowly and saw what lay inside; it was a dorm the size of a mansion.

"Holy crap, these are huge." Ven yelled from behind the orange door.

"Do any other people live in these dorms?" I asked, knowing that a dorm the size of a mansion probably didn't belong only to me.

"No." Master Oni simply answered.

I ran quickly into the huge, open-spaced dorm. Like the door, the color scheme was red and gold. The foyer had a few couches, and a small circular table. A small refridgerator sat in the oppisite corner.

At the end of the huge foyer was an open doorway, and I walked through it.

"Man, the living room is even bigger!" I yelled in excitement. And indeed it was:

It was a huge open room with everything someone could wish for;a huge flat-screen HD TV, all of the latest video game consoles nestled under it, and a long, black leather couch winding around it. On the ceiling, a intricate golden chandelier hung, suspended only by two silver chains. And it wasn't one of those fake chandeliers, it actually had real candles turning the glass into a golden fire.

Many beautiful paintings were hung on the wall; one was that classic painting of a bowl of fruit.

A huge bookcase stood in the top-left corner, covering up about one-third of the room. Two other leather couches sat around the bookcase.

Three red doors stood on each wall, except the one that held the door that I came from.

I went through the first door on the left wall. As I walked in, I realized that it was the kitchen. A black, smooth marble counter spanned half of the room with a microwave, a coffee machine, a sink of course, and basket full of fruit sitting on top.

Around the counter were wooden counter stools, their seats covered in red velvet. A black fridge sat next to the counter along with an onyx dishwasher and stove. Another small chandelier not different from the bigger one in the living room hung from the ceiling above the counter, shining golden light upon the white marble floor.

Three massive windows stood at the north side of the room next to the counter, while another red door was on the right.

I opened the door and saw that this room was the bedroom, and a huge one at that. Once again, the floor was covered in crimson carpet with matching red walls.

The bed was king size with gold velvet covers and blankets, while a gold wooden dresser stood at the side.

There were three nightstands that wre gold also, two at the side of the bed, and one in the corner closest to the door I had come through. I looked in the wardrobe and saw about twenty of the same outfits.

_Must be my apprentice uniforms._ I guessed silently.

Another red door stood on the side facing me. In routine, I opened it and saw the bathroom.

The bathroom didn't have any windows, but had another similar chandelier on the ceiling. The most impressive part was that there was a gigantic bath in place of the usual red door.

I paced back to the living room to open the other red doors. I sprinted to the one facing the first door that I had come through.

All three of them led to a garden that was bordered by a forest. There were plants of every type in the garden;flowers, vegetables, even some mushrooms were randomly scattered around.

I backed up into the living room and walked to the three remaining doors. I opened the one closest to the main door, and inside was a huge empty room with a bamboo mat spread across the floor. In this room, there were no chandeliers, just normal ceiling lights. Some weight-lifting items were scattered around, and a few punching bags were suspended from the ceiling.

"This is your personal training room, where you can keep your abilities sharp." Master Oni surprised me by slapping his gloved hand upon my shoulder.

Another red door was at the end of the room.

"Where does that lead to?" I asked Master Oni quietly.

"Follow me." he ordered as he walked to the door.

Inside was a huge circular stone platform, and circling the edges was a crystal-clear stream. You could see little fish swimming through the glassy water.

A ledge hung off of the rocky walls, smothered in white wax from the candles that stood on the stone.

Two small waterfalls poured over the side of the rock, making mist cover the whole room. The weird part was that even though there were candles right behind the waterfalls, they never flickered out.

Other small trickles of water covered the walls, sending dew drops upon the stone.

"What is this place?" I questioned, confused as to why there would be a rocky waterfall room thing in a mansion/dorm.

"This is where you meditate."

"Meditate?" I thought meditating was almost as cheesy as my Keyblade was.

Master Oni smiled and sighed at the same time, closing his eyes to remember something long ago.

"There's another room, right?" I asked him.

"That's just a guest room." he answered me with his white eyes still closed.

"Was this place originally a house?" I questioned.

"In fact, yes." he informed me.

"This whole castle used to belong to the original Keyblade Master of Light."

"Used to?"

"He died in a great battle, which he had won already."

"If he won, why did he die?" I asked quietly.

"He used too much of his power during the fight, and dissapeared afterwards." Master Oni's eyes started to water.

"No one knows what happened to him, some say he went to another dimension, others suggest that he actually ran off in fear of his friends."

"Why would you be scared of your friends?" I knew I shouldn't of kept pestering him, since his eyes were about ready to start raining, but I pestered him anyways.

"He and his friends promised to not use the powers of Darkness, but he knew in order to destroy the Keyblade Master of Darkness, he had to use Darkness as well."

"So, he did?"

"Yes, in fact I was with him in that battle." he informed.

"If you were there, didn't you know what happened to him?"

Master Oni didn't reply and walked out of the room. I cocked my head to the side in confusion.

I followed him out and into the main hall where the doors to Aqua's and Ven's dorms were.

They were waiting for us in their apprentice uniforms: Ven had on baggy pants that went down to his calves. The sides and back of his pants were black, and the front was gray. The gray part faded into black at the top. The pockets on his outfit were black also. The gray part of his pants faded into white at the bottom, then back into black.

Around his wrist, he had a checkered band, mostly white.

His shoes were the only thing normal on his outfit. They were gold at the top, while the rest of his shoes were black and white;some red was added to where his ankles were. They looked pretty much like shoes you'd see anywhere.

His shirt was probably the second most normal part:underneath the black and white jacket he had on, there was a gray and black shirt that had black pockets with white rims. And underneath that was a white shirt that was connected to his pants.

The red neckcuff of the shirt attached to his pants came out over the top of his black jacket.

The weirdest part of his outfit was the golden piece of armor that covered his right shoulder. The armor had something like metal "wings" coming off of the side.

Aqua's outfit was much different: It was mostly black, stretchy material with pink straps around her chest. On her arms were white sleeves that hugged her arms until it they went down to her lower arms.

The black part of her outfit came down and was shaped into shorts. Around her shorts was white cloth that was shaped like a skirt.

On her feet were black boots that went up to her knees.

"You should get your outfit on, Terra." Aqua suggested.

"I guess so." I chuckled while looking at my t-shirt and boxers.

"I think a shower would be nice, too." Ven pinched his nose.

So, I took a bath and opened up the wardrobe once again, taking a closer look at my uniforms.

_These are even weirder than Ven's and Aqua's outfits. _I said to myself in disgust.

_Oh, well. They're better than a smelly t-shirt and boxers._

The first part I put on had stretchy black material, like Aqua's, except that it was more like a t-shirt. I took the pants off of the hangers and noticed that they looked like samurai pants with red straps.

_Oh God, a butt-ugly Keyblade, AND a butt-ugly uniform?_

Even though I thought is was cheesy, I put it on anyway. I snapped the red straps to the upper gray part of the pants.

I looked back into the wardrobe and saw that my outfit had an armor piece similar to Ven's, except that it covered my whole arm and had a glove at the end with no fingers.

Man, I'm not even going to tell you how hard it was trying to figure out how to put that thing on.

_Are there any shoes?_

Indeed, there were shoes, but they were probably the worst part.

They were black and gold, and...that was it. They were heavy enough to be metal, but they didn't feel like metal.

_Weird..._

The bottoms were gold, and there were gold pieces of "metal" sticking up at the sides of my toes. There were two lines of gold across the top, but that was it.

And the thing I hated the most about this "outfit" was the black ribbons that hung off of the gray part of my pants.

They made me feel...girly.

_Scissors...I need scissors._

I opened up all of the drawers a found nothing, so I went into the kitchen and took out a knife.

I had cut off the ribbons and threw them in the trash. When I was done, I looked at where the ribbons were, and they were once again hanging from my waist.

"Huh?" I asked out loud.

I cut them off again only to find out that they grew back. Soon it became a ribbon-butchering fest, but to no avail the ribbons kept coming back.

I sighed and tried to rip the whole ribbon through the loops in my pants. I got all of it out, but the ribbon grew back out of nowhere.

_Stupid ribbon._

Even though I thought I looked like a twenty-first century samurai and a hillbilly mixed, I headed out to where Aqua and Ven were, and to my surprise they were amazed at how "cool" my uniform was.

I simply chuckled and agreed with them.

"Now that you three have settled in, I will send letters to your parents to tell them where you are." Master Oni promised.

"Tomorrow, our lesson will be to meet all of the other Keyblade Masters here at the castle."

"Be here at eight-o-clock sharp."

"Yes, sir." we answered in unison.


	8. Terra's Story:Book 1:Chapter 7

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep Zero-Book 1-Chapter 7:First Day Part 1

DISCLAIMER:Nomura-san+Squeenix own KH characters, Disney owns Disney stuff. Spider Pig belongs to The Simpsons.

Stay Gold belongs to Utada Hikaru.

The onyx-black alarm I had set for seven-thirty in the morning had thrown me out of my dreamless sleep with the MOST ANNOYING noise I have ever heard.

It sounded like a dying cow and a bellowing whale at the same time. No, wait, more like a dying cow and a constipated, angry cat.

I mean, I was in the middle of one of the best sleeping sessions I have ever been in, and all of the sudden, I wake up to a constipated yowling cat.

_I hate cats... _

I snatched the alarm into my grasp and looked for a button where I could change how the alarm sounded.

_Let's see...rock, heavy metal, orchestral, j-pop, radio, and ??. _I stared at the ?? in confusion.

_What the hell is ?? ? _

_Well, if anything, it's probably better than a dying cow._

I was absolutely wrong:

_Spider pig, spider pig, does whatever a spider-pig does!_

My eyebrow had been glued to the top of my forehead for the past few minutes as "Spider-Pig" repeated over and over again.

_How about J-pop?_

_My darling, Stay Gold..._

"Nope."

"I think I'll stay with the constipated cat." I decided as I switched it back to "Auto Sound".

I glanced back at the time on the clock that suspended on the wall, even though I could've just looked at the alarm in my hand.

_Seven-forty. _I repeated the numbers shown on the clock in my thoughts.

I got off of the soft, wonderful, inviting bed and dragged myself over to the wardrobe.

I put my cheesy uniform back on and stared back at the warm bed.

_Five minutes more would've made my day better..._

Ignoring the thought, I walked over to the red door at the end of the room and entered the bathroom.

I grabbed the brush off of the counter and brushed my hair quickly, wondering how girls spend about an hour fixing themselves up.

_I bet Aqua will be late._ I assumed, remembering how late Aqua was to almost everything. Her excuse was always "At least I was ACTUALLY trying to look nice while you two just roll out of bed and go wherever you feel like going."

That wasn't always true though. It took me about five-minutes to get ready, while it took her TWO HOURS. I mean, I took care of myself better than Ven did, who literally rolled out of bed and went wherever he felt like. You could tell by his messy, spiky blonde hair. Mine was naturally spiky and messy, so that was always my excuse when Aqua fussed over my hair.

She'd always say: "Do you EVER brush your hair?" or "Do you use hair gel?" Even though my hair was extremely spiky, I never used hair gel. I know that she knows this, but she never admits it.

When I was done brushing my teeth, I looked at the clock again. It was seven-forty-seven. I lied;it takes me seven minutes to get ready.

_I should probably eat._

I grabbed a bowl out of the cupboard and set it loudly on the table. I looked at the food supply, and the cupboards were stuffed to the brim with food.

_I bet Ven ate all of his food already. _I guessed, remembering that Ven ate like a fat ape and two wolverines mixed.

I chuckled as I remembered how Ven was always asking me "How did you get so tall?"

I always answered with one word: "Puberty."

"Well, yeah, I know that, but do you have any strategies or methods like eating a lot, or working out?"

I raised my eyebrow. "Strategies?"

He frowned and looked at his feet for a while, his cheeks embroidered with red.

I'd always make fun of him for that for the rest of his life.

Finishing my Cheerios, I ignored cleaning the bowl and setting it in the dishwasher. I rushed to the main hall of the apprentices' dorms since seeing the clock ticking away at time.

As I guessed, Aqua was late from not just "rolling out of bed", and Ven was late from not rolling out of bed at all.

Master Oni was waiting for us, and looked relieved that at least one of his apprentices came to greet him

"Terra, will you go fetch Ven for me?" Master Oni requested.

I nodded as I walked through the orange door to Ven's dorm. It was the same as mine except that the colors were mostly orange and yellow, as the door suggested.

Since it had the same layout as mine, I knew where the bedroom was.

"Ven!" I yelled to wake him from sleeping.

"Huh, what?" he lifted his chin from the drool puddle on the orange pillow.

"You overslept." I informed him as he looked at the clock that hung on the wall.

"Oh."

"I'll get ready." he said in a melancholy way as he dragged himself to the yellow wardrobe.

When he finished, he came out into the kitchen where I was waiting.

"Okay, let's go." he said.

I followed him into the main hallway where Master Oni was still waiting for Aqua.

"Is Aqua always this late?" Maste Oni asked us as we passed by.

Ven and I both nodded silently as Master Oni sighed.

"She'll have to learn not to be, then." he wrapped his gloved hand into a fist.

BAM! The silver and blue door slammed as Aqua came sprinting out in a hurry.

"I'm sorry, am I late?" she asked innocently.

"A little." Master Oni sighed in impatience.

Alll of us were silent as we walked to the castle hallways. As we walked by crowds of other apprentices, they stared at us in surprise.

I heard some of them whisper: "Who are they?" or "Are they Master Oni's new apprentices?".

Master Oni seemed to have heard this and gave all who whispered a hard, stern stare, which resulted in them looking away instantly.

One whisper I heard really made me angry: "Ewwwww, look at that butt-ugly brunette guy!"

I instantly frowned at the blond wench's comment, trying to ignore it, if that was even possible.

The other thing that made me frown was that the same blondie who called me ugly afterwards said: "Awwwwww, that little blond guy is SOOOOOOO cute!"

"I know!" the other girls around her agreed in unison.

Even though I was disheartened, I still kept my head held up in pride. Ven did too, but it was easy for him.

_Am I really that ugly? _I asked myself in disbelief.

"Don't take it too seriously, Terra." Ven interrupted my thoughts.

"That's easy for you to say." I snapped.

Ven went ahead of me, smirking in happiness that a bunch of girls called him "cute".

He looked back and said: "You're just jealous."

I wanted to shove his face into a fresh pile of dog crap and keep him there for a month.

_And you're just lucky that I haven't ripped that smirk off of your face yet. _I threatened silently.

I felt something tugging my hair.

_What the- _My thought was interrupted as a brunette teen girl jumped in front of me.

"Hi, I'm Taryn!" she introduced herself.

Before I could reply she started jumping up and down and yelling "YOU'RE SOOOOOOO ADORABLE!!"

"You can just call me Pico, though." her hyper outburst had halted.

"Your hair is really soft, did you feel me tugging on it?"

"Wait, of course you did, how silly of me!" she blushed.

"So, what's your name?" she asked with a twinkle in her brown eyes.

"Uh...Terra." I said quietly.

"Ohhhhh, even your voice is handsome!" she squealed with glee.

"Terra, Taryn!" she yelled as loud as she could.

"We're a perfect match!" she giggled.

I stared at her in silence, wondering if she would erupt with hyperness again.

She was wearing a jean skirt with black leggings on underneath. Her shirt had the letters "WoW" on it with a demonic looking creature in the background. The boots she was wearing were mostly brown with yellow and pinkish-red flowers on them.

"What's WoW?" I asked.

"It's like the best PC game in the world!" she squealed.

"I think Terra has an admirer." Ven taunted.

I shoved him with one hand over to the side in response.

"I have a present for you!"

She pulled out a bag of candy.

"They're called Skittles!" she informed me as she ripped open the bag.

She popped a few of them in her mouth, then started choking on them.

"Are you okay?!" I asked in concern.

She sneezed and multicolored snot and spit shot out of her mouth onto my shoes.

I looked down at my shoes in disgust as the colorful substance rolled down the black metal.

"Yeah, I'm fine now." she giggled.

"I kinda noticed." Ven smiled as he looked down at my shoes.

She pulled some tissues out of her pocket and wiped off my shoes.

"Sorry about that!" she scratched the back of her head.

"That's okay." I lied.

"Well, I have to go now."

"Okay."

"See you!" she waved as she ran off.

"See, not everybody thinks you're ugly." Ven laughed.

I stared daggers at him and puched him in the shoulder.

"Hurry up!" Master Oni called before he turned into a distant hallway.


	9. Terra's Story:Book 1:Chapter 8

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep Zero-Book 1:Chapter 8-First Day Part 2

DISCLAIMER:I do not own KH stuff, Nomura and SE do, Disney stuff belongs to Disney.

We had finally caught up with Master Oni and Aqua after our run-in with Pico.

I shivered when I remembered she had shot chewed up Skittles onto my shoes.

_Why do things like that always happen to me?_

"Since you've already met Master Xehanort and Master Yen Sid, our first person to meet today is Master Ceru." Master Oni announced.

"I must warn you though, she is very strict and..." Master Oni paused to find the "polite" term for what was originally going to be nit picky.

"You'll know when you meet." Master Oni chuckled.

Indeed, she was very nit picky and judgemental, for when we got to her office...

"I'm disappointed in you, Master Oni." she frowned.

"And that is because?" Master Oni raised an eyebrow while knowing what she was probably going to say next.

"You have chosen a porcupine..." she pointed at my brunette, spiky hair. "an immature little monkey," she paused to point at Ven. "and a little prissy smart-aleck for apprentices." she finished by pointing her manicured fingernail at Aqua.

"Come over here, boy." she waved her hand at me.

I glanced at Master Oni for permission, hoping he'd say no.

He said yes.

"You're an ugly little man, aren't you porcupine?" she insulted.

"You're not so pretty yourself." I announced as I looked at her spiky, pink hair.

"What an insolent child!" she cried in horror.

"How dare you call me ugly, you little porcupine!" She couldn't possibly believe that someone would DARE to call her less than gorgeous.

"I have a name you know." I snapped back at her.

"I am the most beautiful woman in the world, so don't argue with me." she appointed herself beautiful; I couldn't believe how conceded she was.

_Yeah, did you notice that I started to have a bad day when I saw your face? _I didn't dare say it out loud.

Master Oni had closed his white eyes for fear of what he knew was inevitable.

"Even dirt is more beautiful than you are." I knew she was about to fly off of the hook after this insult, but I just didn't care; I had been called ugly twice in one day, which made me feel worse when I had been called ugly by a fat, pink-haired hag. Letting her call me ugly and letting her get away with it just wasn't on my list of things to do today.

"HOW DARE YOU!" she screamed.

Raising my eyebrow in glee made her even more upset.

"Take this fool away from me!" she ordered Master Oni as she did her signature pointing at the door.

"Apologize to her." Master Oni demanded.

I walked back from the door and whispered: "Sorry, bitch."

"DID YOU HEAR WHAT HE JUST SAID?" she looked back and forth from me and Master Oni.

"We'll be going now." Master Oni announced as he herded all three of us out of the office.

"Don't think you'll get away with this, you little fiend!" she yelled at me.

_Yeah, I don't think that I'll ever get away if I see your face ever again. _I laughed in silence.

"What a wench!" Aqua insulted.

"I know!" Ven agreed.

"Our next person to meet is Master Hikari." Master Oni announced who our next target was.

"You'll like her much better than Master Ceru, I assure you." he promised.

"It's impossible not to." I mumbled.

Aqua and Ven tried not to laugh, but they failed to suppress it.

Master Oni grinned in reply.

Master Hikari's office was almost as pure white as Master Oni's eyes. When Master Hikari noticed that we were there, she set down her silver quill and smiled.

"You must be Master Oni's new apprentices." she guessed in excitement.

All three of us bowed low in reply.

_Now this is someone I can get along with._ I said to myself in a content mood, much different from when Master Hag-Wench called me ugly.

"My name is Taiki Hikari, but others usually call me Master Hikari." she introduced herself in an inviting manner, as if she was one of those people smiled no matter what.

"This is Ventus." Master Oni waved his hand sideways in the air at Ven.

Ven paused his bowing for a moment to send Master Hikari a small wave.

"This one is Aqua." Master Oni continued the introduction by pointing to Aqua.

"Hi." Aqua greeted quietly.

"And the last one is Terra." Master Oni finished.

I stopped bowing to look up and smile at Master Hikari.

"So, have you met Master Ceru yet?" she questioned.

She figured out the answer by seeing our smiles turn into frowns. "She can be a bit too much sometimes." she giggled.

"Well, I hope you enjoy being apprentices." she smiled warmly.

"We will." all three of us replied in unison.

"You have a great master to teach you, too." Master Oni grinned at this.

"Goodbye!" she yelled as we walked out the door. All four of us waved as we departed.

"She was pretty nice." Aqua said.

"Yeah, unlike that wench." Like Xehanort, insulting Master Hag-Wench made my day better;I think I'm that way with everyone I despise.

We came to a stop in front of another huge door, this time with nothing but plain lime green.

"The next one is Master Yoshida."

Master Yoshida was a middle-aged man, probably about forty. He had dirty blond hair and green eyes, almost the same color as the door that led to his study.

A young man about twenty came out to grab some books that were laying on the bookcases that smothered the walls of the study. His hair was sky blue, and had eyes to match.

The whole time he was in the room, Aqua stared at him with a dreamy look in her eyes.

Ven saw this and squinted at the twenty-year-old in jealousy.

"You're just jealous." I mocked Ven.

He stared daggers at me for a few seconds before going back to squint at the young man.

"You must be Master Oni's new apprentices!" Master Yoshida thrust out his right hand to shake ours.

In reply, we all shook his hand in greeting. Ven still had his squint on the other boy.

"This is my apprentice, Tanaka Hayashi."

"Hi." he greeted, afterwards dropping his books. Aqua instantly fell to her knees to help him collect them.

"Isn't that a girl's name?" Ven said in a rude manner.

"Ventus!" Master Oni whispered in anger.

Ven stuck his tongue out like a dog.

"Thank you, miss." Aqua smiled from his manner.

"Aqua." she introduced herself with a smile.

"Aqua." he repeated dreamily.

"It fits you." he smiled while staring at her deep blue hair and eyes.

Aqua giggled in response, making Ven hold out his fist to Tanaka.

"Don't mind him." Aqua ignored Ven's reversed smile.

"Well, it was nice meeting you!" Master Yoshida farewelled after Master Oni introduced us.

As we walked out into the corridor, Master Oni shook Ven by the shoulder, chastising him for insulting his fellow apprentices. Ven stared at his feet in embarrassment;only because he was getting chastised in front of Aqua.

Afterwards, Aqua started chastising him as well. I stepped in and defended Ven.

"He already got chewed out enough by Master Oni, you don't have to make him feel any worse." She looked at me and gritted her teeth.

"Thanks, Terra." Ven thanked while staring at his feet with a constant frown.

"Don't mention it."

"The next one is Master Samamaru."

Master Samamaru was a twenty-five-year-old man with silver hair and blue eyes.

"You must be the new apprentices." he greeted with a frown.

"Now shoo, I am a very busy man, so if you'd kindly remove yourself from my study, I can get back to work." he verbally shoved us out of the room.

"Goodbye, now."

"How rude." Master Oni complained.

"Keyblade Masters these days just aren't what they used to be." his eyes glassed over by losing himself in the "good old days".

We met all of the other Keyblade Masters:Master Kami, a thirty-year-old woman with green hair and green eyes, Master Oka, a tall middle aged man with white hair and gray eyes, Master Maru, a twenty-year-old woman who was short with pink hair, and the last one was Master Akiyama, who told us that we were very lucky to have Master Oni for a master.

When we got back to the main hall of the dorms, Master Oni told us to take the rest of the day off and rest. Seeing the clock, Aqua asked, much to my resentment, of why we were finished so early.

"You've been walking for a long time, and so have I." Master Oni pointed out as I saw him rub his knees.

"Your next training session is tomorrow at twelve, so I hope you won't be late." he announced.

"We won't." Aqua, Ven, and I bowed as Master Oni left for his study.


	10. Terra's Story:Book 1:Chapter 9

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep Zero-Book 1-Chapter 9-First Day's End.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own KH stuff or Disney stuff, nor Ramen. Sugar belongs to Fall Out Boy.

Walking through my dorm always made me feel like I was rich. The chandelier produced golden light on my brunette hair as I paced under it.

_I have so many things I could spend my time doing. _I looked around at all of the things I could entertain myself with: The huge HD TV, the large auburn bookcase stood in the corner, sit out in the garden for a while, explore the waterfall room, weight-lift, randomly take a bath, even explore the forest that borders the garden.

I walked over to the bookcase, wondering if there were any books on the history of the castle;it's name, why it was built, who built it, and who is the current owner.

My eyes quickly skimmed over the bookcase. _Mathematics Level 5, Ancient Civilizations, Ruins of the World, Northern Wildlife, The Handbook to Cats._

_I hate cats._ I reminded myself with a scowl on my face.

_Castles of this World._

_Maybe that's it._ I guessed as I flipped through the browned pages.

On page thirty-four, there was a photo of a huge light-blue castle.

I peeked out the nearest window, swiveled my head around, and stared at the castle's exterior. It looked slightly different than the picture, but that was probably because the book was older than most of the other ones.

I scanned the book entry and found all of my answers:

Name:Castle Celest

Age:One thousand, five-hundred, three years.

Built:May 31st, 455 AD.

_God, if the castle is this old, then I wonder how old Master Oni is;he knew the original owner, didn't he?_

Built For: The Keyblade Master of Light, Master Eterika.

_Master Eterika? _I asked myself in wonder.

Built By:Unknown

I flipped back to the first page, wondering when the book was written.

_1958. Fifty years ago. _

_So it's really one-thousand, five-hundred, fifty-three years old._ I calculated silently.

I set the book back on the shelf quietly.

_Man, that bowl of Cheerios didn't tie me over for as long as I thought it would. _I complained while rubbing my rumbling stomach.

I searched through the cupboards looking for something I could make quickly. _Soup? Chicken Noodle, Onion, Garlic and Chives, Ramen._

I snatched the package of roasted chicken Ramen from the shelf. Looking through the shelves near the bottom, I found a small black pot to cook the Ramen in.

_Boil two cups of water, add noodles, stir for three minutes, add seasoning; I've got it._

I added the cups of water, then to make it go faster, I added the noodles in at the same time. Setting the black pot onto the stove, I switched the heat from low to medium.

When the Ramen was ready, I grabbed some chopsticks out of one of the drawers and settled down on the leather couch to eat it.

I turned on the TV with the black remote that sat on the glass end table.

Everything on TV was pretty much boring me to death, even the comedies, so I clicked the TV off and went back to the kitchen to eat.

I looked at the two bowls in the sink and sighed, knowing that I probably shouldn't be a lazy bum like Ven was. I cleaned the bowls, chopsticks, and the spoon from this morning's Cheerios and set them(except the chopsticks) in the dishwasher.

It was only three-o-clock in the afternoon.

_I'm so bored. _I complained silently.

_I'll go see what Ven is doing. _I decided.

As I expected, Ven was doing really random things like making castles out of the books on the shelves, jumping up and down on his couch, setting up cards to look like houses, blasting music through the computer sitting on the desk in the corner and playing air guitar-

_Wait a second, how come I don't have a computer? _I asked myself in jealousy.

"How come you have a computer and I don't?" I surprised Ven so much that he fell off of the couch.

"You have to fill out a sheet that Master Oni left on your kitchen table." Ven informed me.

"I never saw a sheet on the table, and I was there twice today."

"Well, maybe Master Oni is putting it on your table now." Ven guessed, paying more attention to what song he was going to play air guitar to next.

He chose a song from a group called Fall Out Boy, and the song was called "Sugar We're Goin' Down".

_Ven can be so kiddish sometimes... _

"Oh yeah, wanna see the pool I have outside?" he smiled with excitement.

I followed him out to find that he had a huge pool with a diving board and everything;even some floaties were scattered about, drifting in the pool.

I walked up to the side of the pool and looked in. The bottom of the pool was made out of river rock and other various stones.

I even saw some agates scattered along the bottom, and huge ones at that.

All of the sudden, I was choking on water. I swam up to the surface and looked around to see what had pushed me into the water. Who was it?

Who else would it be?

Ven was bent over laughing his head off at my little swim. I smiled and pulled myself over the edge, Ven not knowing that I was right behind him, ready to grab him by the wrist and drag him into the cerulean water.

"Let me go!" Ven yelled in desperation.

"And you deserve to be let free because?" I grinned in deviousness.

Holding Ven over the edge of the pool made him beg me not to drop him in. I did anyways, satisfied with my short and sweet revenge.

"Big fat meanie!" Ven insulted in a VERY childish way.

"Is that the best insult you have?" I asked with my eyebrow raised.

"Big fat meanie?" I mocked to embarrass him.

"Only five-year-olds use insults like that." I informed him while remembering how Sora and Riku would always get into meaningless fights over who's outfit was cooler, or who was tougher. Riku almost always won those arguments.

"At least I couldn't stab someone's eye out with my hair." Ven insulted, not remembering, or ignoring, that his hair was even spikier than mine.

"WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!" A girl screamed in glee as she jumped over the bushes with EXTREME hyperness.

"I'm BA-" Pico stopped in mid-sentence as she tripped over the edge of the pool.

She swam to the surface and smiled in embarrassment.

"Opps!" Pico giggled in glee.

"I brought you some more Skittles!" her happy-go-lucky mood was constant.

I gulped in remembering the multicolored stuff that dripped down my shoes as Pico finished her sneezing fit.

"But I have millions of them in my kitchen!" I lied with a very, VERY fake smile.

"Then we can feed them to each other!" she suggested, making me smile and start to chuckle nervously.

"I'm kinda busy, though." I lied again.

"Doing what?" she asked innocently.

"I have to go to the bathroom!" I lied for the third time, hoping to get away from this creepy stalker.

Running towards my dorm, Pico chased after me asking when I was done if we could bake cookies together.

"No thank you!" I yelled as I turned around and locked the door to my dorm.

_What a creep! _I shuddered as Pico pouted behind the locked door.

"Hello, Terra." Master Oni made me turn around in surprise.

"Oh, hi!" I chuckled as I held the door shut.

The door had started to shake from Pico's relentless pursuit.

"I left the order form for you on the table in the kitchen." he informed me.

"Thanks a ton!" I thanked as the door had endlessly banged against the doorway.

"Now move so I can get back to my study." Oni ordered, making me beg him not to open the door as I moved out of the way.

"Why not?" Master Oni asked me in confusion as Pico slammed the door open, almost crushing his hand in the process.

"Terra!" she giggled loudly.

"You came back to me!" she hugged me, and choked me also.

I grabbed her wrist and literally tossed her out and slammed the door in her face. I felt kinda bad, but she was starting to creep me out.

"Don't leave me!" she cried out in "despair".

"Then leave me alone!" I screamed back at her.

She had started sobbing in defeat and hopelessness when I finally opened the door and put my hand on her shoulder.

_Stupid guilt._ I hated feeling guilty, and I knew that I had just broken her heart.

"Zack, you came back to me!" she screamed in glee once again.

"Who the hell is Zack?" I questioned her in confusion.

"You're not Zack Fair?" she asked in disappointment.

"You know my name is Terra, right?" I asked with my eyebrow raised once again.

"Well, yeah, but I thought you were Zack trying to throw me off so I wouldn't chase after you." she told me with false innocence.

"I mean, you look like twins!" her eyes started to twinkle again, and I knew that her hyper fits were coming back.

"Yay, I know two hot guys!" she jumped up and down in glee.

"Well, I hope you find Zack!" I wished her false luck as I threw her out the door.

_I feel bad for that Zack guy... _I sympathised.

I stared at the clock and saw that somehow, time had flown by. It was eight-o-clock already.

I was so bored, so I jumped into bed not even bothering to re-dress into my normal sleepwear.

As I closed my eyes, I instantly fell into a warm, dreamless sleep.


	11. Terra's Story:Book 1:Chapter 10

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep Zero-Book 1-Chapter 10

DISCLAIMER: I do not own KH or any of Tetsuya's characters, Disney owns all of the Disney stuff.

NOTE: PLEASE READ!!

I am writing this note to thank all of the people who have read this story, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have made it this far in the story. Thank you for spending your time to read my story. ALSO: I would like to specially thank Nightshroud for reviewing twice; your reviews have kept me going even farther. You spending your precious time to review has made me smile, and has made me want to write even more. As a present, I am going to make this chapter extra long.Also, as you read this story, you'll notice it get deeper and more serious, as this is the way the characters develop in their stories. Though, I must warn you, Terra's story is going to be the most serious one, it might become depressing(not emo) close to the end of book 7(just look at the KH2 Final Mix BBS trailer!)

(Aqua's is probably the lightest one) ANOTHER ALSO: I know Ven is right-handed in newer scans and screenshots, but since I personally think it would make Ven look cooler, he's left-handed in my story.

Thank you,

Eternal Symphonia.

Anyways, to the story:

DISCLAIMER:I do not own KH nor Disney stuff.

My eyes opened slowly as dawn rose upon the starry sky. The Sun had shone through the window and had woken me from yet another dreamless slumber.

_What time is it? _I asked myself in wonder as I glanced at the ticking brown clock hung on the wall.

The white face had it's hands pointing to six and to the smaller, black notch of thirty.

_Way too early to wake up yet._ Even though I told that to myself, my body protested as I rose from the crimson velvet that lay upon the golden bed.

The burnt umber cupboards that hung off of the red wall in the sun-stricken kitchen held many breakfast foods.

_Pop-tarts sound okay._ I shrugged as my fingers triturated the metallic silver foil off of the frosted cherry pastries.

Dropping them into the onyx-black toaster, I watched as the wire inside turned into coal red.

The wires started to give off a burnt aroma, so I backed off and waited for my breakfast to pop out of the toaster.

As I waited, I stared off onto the sparkly grass that was pressed under an orange sky. The few trees that stood alone here and there had their leaves rustle in the soft but forceful wind.

I watched as dew drops of water slid down the blades of green in a slow manner, making them scintillate.

They reminded me of the waterfall room that lay beyond the door in the training room; the small trickling waterfalls that scattered drops of water upon the gray stone.

Grazing through my hair with three of my fingers, I noticed that some strands were plastered to my temples from last night's abrupt humidity.

_I should open the windows. _I suggested to myself as I paced over to the human-sized windows that were bordered by crimson and black.

I unlocked the white latch and opened the window to the late June morning, the wind greeting me as it played with my hair.

_Ding! _The Pop-tarts shot out of the toaster with lightning-fast speed.

I searched through the fridge for something to drink.

_Prune Juice? No wait, I hate prune juice. _I reminded myself as I reached out to the plastic bottle.

Moving my hand closer to me, I searched for something else. I decided on apple juice.

_Didn't Sora love apple juice? Or was it paopu juice?_

I struggled to remember, but to no succession, my mind failed to latch on to it.

All of the sudden, Ven burst onto the kitchen wearing only a t-shirt and briefs. It reminded me of the time I had run away from the venerable man, Xehanort. Not that i respected Xehanort, but he was ancient. I mean, he was the twin of a one thousand, six-hundred and thirty-three year old man.

"Can't you put some clothes on before you barge into my dorm?" I asked the blond teen in disgust.

"Sorry, I just had this awesome dream, and I didn't want to forget it before I told you about it." Ven admitted with excitement.

"What was it?" I asked him in impatience.

"Well, I was falling through darkness and there was nothing around except this twinkling noise and the faint howling of wind." he started with the dream still fresh in his mind.

"Then all of the sudden, I was standing on what seemed like nothing, until I took a few steps forward."

"Doves were everywhere and there was a blinding light, and as I looked down, there was mural of a guy that was in gold and black medieval armor and a pillar that stood under a heart-shaped moon." The dream Ven was explaining to me had seemed almost exactly like the one I had before Xehanort had kidnapped us.

"Then three pillars appeared out of nowhere and three things came out of nowhere above them." he made his dream sound more exciting than mine, in which the "Chaser" had ruined almost all of it.

"There was a star-shaped staff, a shield with a star on it, and a-" I interrupted him, which made him angry and mystified at the same time. Or at least I thought he was angry.

"A sword with a star on the hilt." I finished.

"How did you know?" Ven asked in immense curiosity.

"Keep going with the dream."

"Okay, so this voice comes out of nowhere and says: _"This is your Destiny." _."

"I thought it sounded kinda cheesy, but I didn't say anything."

"Then he told me that I was a much better listener than my spiky-haired friend." I smiled from remembering the Chaser.

"Then, he started on this "number eight" thing and how you didn't appreciate his work."

"The worst part was when he told me about being on the toilet for eight hours straight."

"He told me to choose a weapon, so I chose the shield."

"Then it turned into this Key-thingy; it was black and gold, and had only one hand guard, so I had to hold it in a really weird way."

"Then at the end, it had a piece of metal that had five prongs sticking out."

"So then, I fought these things called the Unbirths, and then I had to battle this gigantormous Unbirth." Ven informed me in a childish way; something that he did often. "He told me that he surprised to see that I wasn't such a sap as you were."

"Then when I won, I woke up." he finished.

I had a feeling that Ven left out some other important parts. Such as some of the conversations between the two, or if the voice told Ven about his true "identity" at all.

"You had the same dream too, right?" Ven asked, half knowing the answer anyway.

"Yeah, but mine was...different." I struggled for the word.

"Tell me what yours was like." Ven ordered impatiently.

So, I told him what my dream was about. But at least I was trying to be more specific, and the fact that I told Ven who the voice was made him grin.

He toppled over to laugh;another thing Ven had a habit of doing.

"Can you still summon your Keyblade?" I asked.

"Yeah, I think I can." Ven thrust out his left hand in unison, almost the same as I did on the night of arriving to the castle.

In response, his hand was enveloped by a pure white light. Then, the light formed into a wind that howled around Ven's hand for a few seconds. The wind transformed into a black blade with a tarnished, golden hand guard. At the end, there was a silver piece of metal with five prongs, just as Ven described.

"How come your Keyblade isn't cheesy?" I asked in jealousy.

Ven shrugged and smiled at the same time.

"Summon your Keyblade." Ven ordered in excitement.

"I can't." I admitted in renewed frustration at my inability to summon the Keyblade once again.

"Oh." Ven said in disappointment.

"You wouldn't think it looked cool anyways." I sighed at my Keyblade's ugliness.

"Your oufit was cooler than Aqua's or mine." Ven pointed out.

I chuckled from wondering how my outfit could possibly look "cool". I mean, I looked like a hillbilly, a knight, and a samurai mixed together.

_Talk about different time periods._

"Does everyone think that?" I questioned to myself out loud.

"You don't?" Ven asked.

I chuckled once again at Ven's clueless personality. Well, at least I thought he was clueless.

"Well, if we had the same dream, don't you think we should tell Master Oni?" he asked.

"Yeah, maybe he'd know something about it." I guessed. Since Master Oni had been around for a extremely long time, he'd probably know something about twin dreams.

Ven and I headed for our bedrooms and changed into our uniforms quickly.

We met out in the main hallway and headed for Master Oni's study in order to inform him about our similar dreams, and to also ask him how Master Geezernort was mystified about how I held the knowledge of the Keyblade.

When we got to the door, Master Oni opened it and we flew through the open space. Landing on the floor, I asked Master Oni how he knew we were coming.

He simply answered: "With the way you two run, I would've thought you were a stampede."

"Sorry." Ven and I muttered in unison.

"Oh well, it was time for me to awaken anyways." I glanced at the clock. The time shown was seven-forty-five.

"Now, what do you require?" he questioned us with one silver eyebrow raised.

So, Ven and I told him about our similar dreams in hoping he would know something about it.

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" Master Oni asked, slightly in a petulant way.

"Well, I had my dream from before I even met you." I pointed out to him.

"You had it _before_you knew about Keyblade wielders?" Oni asked me in astonishment.

"Is that wrong?" I don't know how having a dream before I was supposedly supposed to was horrible, since I couldn't control when my dreams came, but Master Oni ignored this fact.

I nudged Ven in the shoulder and asked him a question. "What did the voice call your Keyblade?"

"It was..." Ven searched for the name.

"Divided Fate."

_Man, that name is even cheesier than Eternal Horizons._

_Hey, I remembered it's name! _I exclaimed to myself in victory.

"What did you say?" Master Oni ordered.

"I said the voice in my dream called my Keyblade "_Divided Fate"._" Ven repeated in a somewhat louder voice.

"Divided Fate, huh?" Master Oni asked and repeated at the same time.

All of the sudden, Aqua burst in and started explaining that she had an "awesome" dream last night. By her description, it seemed as if she had the same dream as well.

"So all three of you had the dream?" Master Oni asked in disbelief.

We nodded in reply.

"Then, summon your Keyblades." Master Oni ordered. "If you truly did have the dream, then your Keyblades will show proof."

Ven and Aqua both thrust out their hands in unison to do as Master Oni ordered.

I looked at Aqua's Keyblade. It was a tarnished, royal blue, silver, and a faint purple color. The handle was like any other; oval-shaped with a rod in the middle for someone to hold on to it. Then, the blue metal at the top of the hilt was shaped like two diamonds that formed the beginning of the blade. The blade was normal as well, and at the top was a piece of metal shaped like the three prongs of a key, in which they struck out, then formed a roughly shaped number three. In the middle of the key part were three white pieces of metal, two shaped like boxes by connecting the blue part, and another diamond-shaped one in the middle.

Master Oni looked at me expectantly. "Where is your Keyblade?"

"I can't summon it." I admitted in dolefulness.

"And why not?" he raised his silver eyebrow once again.

"Is it because you lied to me, and you really didn't have the dream?"

"No, no, it's not that." I defended quickly.

"Then explain." he commanded.

"I don't know why I can't summon it." I answered simply.

"Then you didn't have the dream." Master Oni claimed, much to my frustration.

"It's not my fault I can't summon it again!" I cried out, suddenly angry and furious. I even asked myself of why I had such a random burst of a snappy additude.

_Why am I mad?_

"If you can't summon it, then you didn't have the dream." Master Oni repeated again.

I shut my eyes tight in anger, feeling it starting to consume me. Something came along with the anger; some kind of power, but I didn't know what it was. It was a very slight feeling, but very apparent as well. I didn't know if it created a menacing feeling or if it created a feeling of tremendous power. I'll admit, I was slightly scared of how tempting it was, even though I didn't need power right now. All I needed was someone to believe me.

At that, my anger and the mysterious power disappeared.

"Why don't you believe me?" I questioned him.

Master Oni said nothing and stared at me in a melancholy way.

"Don't let anger consume you, young apprentice."

_Why did he dodge the question?_ I asked myself, my frustration rising again.

"Don't do it." Master Oni ordered, confusing Ven and Aqua about what he was talking about.

I knew, and I didn't know what he was talking about.

"Letting negative emotions control you leads to your demise." With this, my anger came back to the present.

"Stop talking!" I randomly ordered Master Oni. Ven and Aqua looked at me in horror at my sudden outburst, no different than Mickey's reaction from when I insulted Xehanort.

"Do you feel guilt for lying to me?" he asked me.

"Are you feeling anger because I don't believe your obvious lie?" It was like Master Oni was actually trying to make my emotions control me, contradicting what he had just told me.

The frightening power came back, and was more apparent than before. I was afraid that if Master Oni said another thing to make my anger rise, it would consume me and the power would come even closer.

I fell to my knees and covered my ears, hoping that Master Oni would see my despondence.

Either he didn't see how desperate I was, or he just didn't care. He walked next to me and pulled my palms away from my ears.

"You don't want to hear the truth?" he smiled the same way Xehanort did.

I couldn't move from the sudden rush of hopelessness and helplessness;I hated feeling that way. Not able to get away from the dark power made me feel like I couldn't depend upon myself, like an innocent baby who has to cry and depend upon others to survive.

Out of all feelings, helplessness was the one I contemned the most.

One more word from Master Oni was all I needed to become consumed. Much to my consternation, he did say another sentence, but one that was familiar: "Yes, the heart is always the most obvious weak spot."

_He did know that I didn't lie to him! _By now, I had already been taken over by emotion, but since I knew that he knew that I didn't lie, the inscrutable power had consumed me as well.

For the next few minutes, all I could see was darkness. I heard things such as "What's wrong with your eyes?" or "Are you okay, Terra?" . I felt no emotion, nor any thoughts came to mind. My spirit alone was left in the abyss of nothing.

After a while, Ven and Aqua gasped and Master Oni told me to not let darkness consume me. Seeing where I, my spirit was, I knew that I already was in darkness.

"Ven, Aqua, leave now!" Master Oni commanded the two startled teens.

I heard the office door squeak open and slam while closing. I knew that even though Master Oni ordered them to leave, they were probably listening on the other side of the door.

"Terra, snap out of it!" Master Oni ordered. Was he ordering me: my spirit? Or was he ordering my spiritless body?

"I believe you had the dream." he admitted.

"In fact, I know you had the dream, otherwise you wouldn't have had so much emotion."

I came out of the abyss of nothing and returned to the present. The blue and silver desk that used to sit in the middle of the room was crushed from being thrown at the wall. Some holes littered the wall and a few were present on the windows.

"Are you okay now?" Master Oni asked in concern, which confused me because I had just trashed his office.

"Yeah, I don't know what came over me." I admitted.

"Fortunately, I do." Master Oni informed me.

"You fell so deep into negative emotions, which is my fault, since I drew them out." I glued my stare to my feet in wonder and excruciating embarrassment.

"Unbeknownst to me, Darkness took the opportunity and controlled you." Master Oni told me, wondering how the darkness could even draw near the castle of the Keyblade Master of Light.

"Why would you want to make me angry?" I asked him.

"I was testing you." he informed me.

"A test?" I asked in slight confusion.

"To see if you were lying or not." he claimed.

"And now I see you weren't." his normally pale cheeks became a slight pink as he stared down at his boots.

"I'm sorry." Master Oni apologized in sincerity.

"Then if you didn't believe me, how did you know what the voice said?" I asked him, knowing that I didn't tell him about that part of the dream.

"Mysterious, isn't it?" he grinned with a twinkle in his eye.

As expected, I heard Ven laughing his head off behind the door and Aqua ordering him to be quiet.

"I know you two are still here."

Ven and Aqua opened the door and bowed.

"We're sorry." they apologized with Ven awkwardly shaking from trying not to laugh.

"I don't care." Master Oni claimed with an incomprehensible expression.

"Don't you have that sheet to fill out still?" Ven asked, getting off of topic.

"Yeah, I guess." I rubbed the back of my head in wonder of how they were just ignoring the fact that I was going berserk a few minutes ago.

"Well, that settles it;no training today." Master Oni glanced at the clock afterwards to show us that it was WAY past twelve. It was kind of weird though; it seemed like it was only an hour that had passed.

"Go off and ...what term do teenagers use again?" Master Oni asked.

"Hang out?" all three of us answered him.

"Yes, do that."

"Also, feel free to wander the castle and mingle with the other apprentices." Master Oni offered.

As we walked out of the office, I looked back at the clock. It was only eight in the morning.

Master Oni saw that I was looking and winked at me.

_How cheesy..._I raised my eyebrow and smiled at Master Oni at the same time.

"So, Terra, what happened to you back there?" Ven asked, thrusting my happy thoughts back into the ones of my previous

outburst.

"I don't know." I admitted with a darkened expression.

Aqua noticed this and nudged Ven in the shoulder; Ven ignored her and reminded me once again of his immaturity.

"Your eyes turned yellow, and it was really creepy." Ven shuddered to make it look even worse than it already was.

This time Aqua pinched Ven really hard on the arm, resulting in Ven asking her why.

I laughed at this and convinced Ven and Aqua that I was fine, and that I didn't need cheering up. Actually, I wouldn't really call it cheering me up since Ven made me feel even worse than before.

I knew they were trying, but...

"Let's see the other apprentices!" Aqua suggested as she jumped up and down in exaggerated excitement.

"Sure." Ven and I agreed.

As expected, the castle hallways were filled to the brim with students. All of them were either crowded around each other talking, hurrying to some unknown place, or just standing around doing nothing.

I liked this setting much more than my dorm. It seemed more like a high school than anything.

"It seems like a high school." Aqua repeated my thoughts.

"Hey, are you the new kids?" a voice called from behind us.

"Yeah." I answered before turning around.

The voice turned out to be a boy about my age with a group of people behind him. The boy had blond hair, a little lighter than Ven's, and purple eyes.

_Does everyone in this place have weird eyes? _I remembered Xehanort's orange-yellow eyes, Master Oni's white eyes, and now this kid's purple eyes.

"Hi, I'm Dirk." the boy introduced with his hand protruding out in order to shake mine.

So I responded and shook his hand. "Terra." I repeated my name.

"Isn't that a girl's name?" one of the people behind Dirk rudely asked.

I ignored the comment and told Dirk it was nice to meet him. Ven and Aqua both introduced themselves as well.

"This is Yamada." Dirk pointed to the guy who asked about my "girly" name. Yamada was about fifteen with curly, shoulder-length brunette hair and blue eyes.

"And here is Rein." Dirk pointed to a girl about Aqua's age with red hair and matching eyes.

_Another point goes to the weird eyed people._

There was one more person behind the three;one that I knew too well.

"Hi, porcupine." he greeted casually.

"Hi, carrot-top."


	12. Terra's Story:Book 1:Chapter 11

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep Zero-Book 1-Chapter 11

DISCLAIMER: KH stuff belongs to Nomura-san, Disney stuff belongs to Disney. ALSO: Special Thanks goes to Projectfreg91 for reviwing twice. I appreciate you spending your time to read my story and reviewing it. :)

"Hey carrot-top!" I casually greeted the orange-haired apprentice.

"I hoped I'd never have to see you again." Igneous sourly snapped in reply.

_You and me both, pal. _I didn't dare to repeat that out loud, in the hopes that Igneous wouldn't start a fight. _Then again, why should I care if Igneous gets a black eye and a few bruises? I mean, I could take him any day. _I claimed to myself with fierce courage.

"Ditto." I returned Igneous's snappy attitude back to him.

The teen scowled in disgust.

_He does fit the description for being Geezernort's apprentice. _Seeing his scowl reminded me so much of Xehanort. His attitude, facial expressions, the same scowl matched Xehanort perfectly. And since I hate Xehanort even worse than I hate prune juice, Igneous wasn't on my list of favorite people either.

"So, where's Geezernort?" I questioned, hoping that Xehanort was in the burning hellfires of Oblivion.

"Why do you care?" Igneous asked.

"I don't." I admitted. The only reason I asked Igneous was so that if we did get into a fight, he wouldn't be able to rely on Xehanort to back him up if he was losing. Even if it "dishonored" Igneous to rely on an old geezer, he'd do it anyway.

"You should." an elderly voice interrupted the brief silence.

"Geezernort, long time, don't want to see." I insulted him by twisting the common saying.

"I suggest you go back to your dorms before you get lost from wandering about." Xehanort rudely ordered.

"And I suggest you crawl back to the sewer you came from." I ordered back. Followed by this were gasps from the surrounding apprentices who were listening.

"Don't you remember what happened the last time you let that foul mouth of yours run rampant?" Xehanort grinned his signature one. The ugly, wrinkly, disturbing one.

"At least I'm not one-thousand, six-hundred and thirty-three years old." All of the other students gasped at this. Like Mickey, I could've sworn that their job in life was to respect rotten old geezers.

"How did you know that?" Xehanort questioned me in surprise.

"Do the math." I answered casually.

"Don't make me angry, young porcupine." he warned and insulted at the same time. His amber eyes were twinkling with anticipation, as if he was begging to have a reason to try to kill me again. It was like we were mortal enemies;nothing could convince us to stop despising each other.

"You always ARE angry; I swear, even when you're taking a dump, you-" I was interrupted by a maniacal grin and a chuckle.

"You're just begging to die, aren't you?"

"I'd rather do that than see you any day." I snapped back.

By now the crowd of teens surrounding us were murmuring things like "Would Master Xehanort really kill him?" or the more common one "Go spiky-haired dude!". Master Xehanort heard these and announced that in fact, he would kill me, and that I couldn't possibly win in anything while opposing him.

Aqua put her hand on my shoulder softly. "Terra, getting in a fight with Xehanort doesn't sound like a good idea right now."

"It does to me." I replied in a cocky manner.

She sighed and backed off to watch another race and/or fight between Xehanort and I unfold.

"Prove it, Geezernort." I ordered the elder.

Xehanort grinned at the challenge. "Okay, then fight me." Master Xehanort ordered as he summoned his fiery purple and black Keyblade.

_Oh crap, I didn't mean he had to prove it THAT way. _My endless amount of courage had left me when I remembered that I couldn't summon my Keyblade.

_Now I'm in hot water..._

All I saw for the next few moments was Xehanort, his Keyblade raised to strike at me, my arms shielding my face, and...

particles?

The icy metal weapon was once again in my grasp. This surprised Xehanort so much that he toppled over. Igneous gave me his trademark scowl, and the students around us were amazed and astonished.

As expected, Ven and Aqua thought that my Keyblade looked "cool".

To make Xehanort even more surprised and confused, I held out my hand to help him up. He did just as I expected and thrust his arm away from my outstretched hand in defiance.

"Rejecting help isn't an honorable way to lose, Xehanort." a similar voice to Xehanort's called from behind the crowd of people.

"Master Oni." I greeted and bowed at the same time. In unison, the rest of the students bowed as well.

"Oni, you dare call me by first name, you foul-" Xehanort was interrupted by Master Oni's sigh.

" I don't think I'm the one who's being foul currently." Master Oni grinned at the fallen elder.

"You smell foul." Xehanort quickly insulted back, and it was a horrible one, too.

Master Oni raised him arm and sniffed his armpits. "How could I possibly smell foul?" he asked in disgust at Xehanort's bad insult.

"The only thing foul here is your attitude." Oni pointed out much to Xehanort's dismay.

"At least my friends don't go off and kill themselves." Xehanort knew that he had a soft spot, and that was his intention.

_What a crotchety old man! He's not getting away... _

I took one step ahead to chase after Xehanort. Master Oni rested his white, gloved hand upon my shoulder to stop my chase.

"Don't bother, he'll just become nasty and complain to me about it." Master Oni pointed out to me. I really wanted to go after Xehanort, since I had so much energy left to have another go. I mean, we didn't even finish our match yet, so...

"Don't go looking for trouble." he advised me as he turned to walk away.

Once all of the Keyblade Masters had left the main hall of the castle, the whole crowd of students were cheering.

"Dude, you stood up to a Keyblade Master!" Dirk jumped in excitement.

"Yeah, so?" I casually put my arms behind my head trying to bask in the "glory".

"And you have a Keyblade!" he thrust his hand out. "Can I see it?" he pointed to the cold, boxy Keyblade that was suspended by four of my fingers.

"Sure, I guess." I tossed Eternal Horizons towards his outstretched hand.

"This is so-" he was interrupted by Eternal Horizons transforming back into particles and reappearing into my hand.

"You can even re-summon it!?" Dirk's excitement was pouring over the top.

"YOU'RE SO COOL!" he fell over.

"Okay..." I raised my eyebrow.

"You have to hang out with us!" Yamada grabbed my arm and somehow dragged me over to the middle of the group of people.

"Wait a second, I don't want to make you look cool!" I bellowed while struggling to get out of the puny kid's tight grip.

I finally wrenched his hand off of my wrist. Running away made Yamada ask me where I was going.

"Crazy!" I yelled back from across the hall.

"Let us come with you!" Ven and Aqua yelled as Yamada ran after them.

"If you're friends with Terra, you could make us look cool too!" The whole mob of people ran after Yamada to try to stop him, but to no avail, there were students scattered around on the floor from chasing after Yamada. Why were they on the floor?

Yamada pushed them out of his way on half of them, and others reached out to grab him but were pushed away as well.

"Let me go!!" Ven yelled as Yamada grabbed the back of Ven's shirt.

"Hah, now I'm cool!" Yamada screamed to the world in victory.

I had stopped to go after Yamada who was dragging Ven away, but the blond girl from yesterday walked in front of me.

"You're not as ugly as I thought you were." she propped her eyebrows up and down a few times.

"Sure, we'll go with that." I muttered back to her before running after Yamada.

Yamada looked back at me and screamed again. "Now I have cool people chasing after me!"

I knocked him over and grabbed Ven. All the way back to our dorms, Yamada was chasing after us.

"Wait, come back cool people!" he fell over in defeat.

My heart by now was beating like running horses' hooves, not only from sprinting, but from having to drag Ven as well.

"Let me go, I can run myself!" he protested every few seconds.

I ignored him and slowed to a sprint. Yamada was so far behind from his fall and the door to our quarters was just ten feet away.

Finally, instead of throwing Ven into his dorm, I just dragged him into mine. Why?

Yamada had caught up and was only two feet away when I got into the main hall of the dorms. Aqua was peeking out from the blue door and instantly shut it when she saw a flash of curly, brown hair.

I slammed the door in Yamada's face and locked it tight. "Cool people, come out!"

Ven had gotten up from his fall from when I tossed him so Yamada couldn't grab the back of his jacket.

"What'd you do that for?" Ven rubbed his cheek.

"To save your ass." I replied. I bent over to catch my breath.

Ven got up and walked over to the couch. He plunked down and reached over for the onyx-black remote.

"Who said you could do whatever you wanted in my dorm?" After this, Ven raised his eyebrow, then focused his attention back to the TV.

I sighed and paced towards the kitchen.

_I still have to fill out that sheet. _I reminded myself before opening the cupboards.

_Today, eating comes before anything._

Grabbing another package of Ramen, I paused to think. _I really have to learn how to cook things other than Ramen._

_I bet there are cookbooks on the bookshelf. _When I was done, I headed out to the couch to see Ven sleeping and drooling on the arm. I grabbed him by the back of the shirt and dropped him on the floor.

"It's time for school already?!" Ven randomly asked as his face hit the floor.

"It's one in the afternoon Ven."

"God, I'm so late!" he jumped up and ran around, then he hit the crimson wall. He fell over and didn't wake up, so I checked to see if he was okay.

I was glad to see that he was still breathing, but he was out cold from slamming into the wall.

_He must've been sleepwalking._

I remembered one other time(out of the countless ones) when Ven had sleepwalked. It was one AM and I was in my living room back at home. I couldn't fall asleep, so I watched TV for a while. Then I heard the front door slam open and someone started banging around the entryway.

I instantly got up to see that no one was there, but the banging noises had started to sound in the kitchen downstairs. Instead of banging, it actually sounded like pots and pans clanking together, as if someone was trying to cook something.

In fact, I was right.

When I got down there, Ven was standing at the stove cooking something in a frying pan.

"Ven, what the hell are you doing?" I asked as he flipped something out of the pan.

"Sorry, I was making pancakes." he took the pan off of the stove to show me the underdeveloped pancakes.

"It's one in the morning!" I yelled at him.

"No, it's time to get ready for school." Ven contradicted me.

"Then go get ready for school somewhere else." I ordered.

"I would've made pancakes at my house, but my cat ate all of the pancake mix." he turned back to the stove.

"How could your cat get the box open?" I asked in perplexity.

"Well, she said she'd help me make pancakes if I'd open the box, but then when I did, she knocked the box over and ate it all." Before I could ask another question, he looked down at his feet. "And it was my favorite kind, too."

I grabbed another box of pancake mix out of the cupboards, thrust it into his hand and shoved him away from the stove.

Before I did anything else, I leaned over to turn the stove off.

"Here, go to your house and make pancakes." I started to shove him again.

"But my cat will trick me into opening the box again!" Ven complained.

"Then don't open the box." I gave him his "solution".

"But I'm hungry." he rubbed his stomach.

"Then eat dog food; I'm sure your cat won't eat that." I pushed him out the door.

The next day after Ven's sleepwalk-

Ven and I were walking to the play island to watch Sora and Riku play-fight. It was the only thing that didn't bore us.

All of the sudden, I saw a bunch of dogs following us. "What do they want?" Ven asked while shooing one of the dogs away.

All of the dogs leaped on Ven and knocked him to the ground. "Get off of me!" he yelped.

"Terra, help me!" Ven yelled in desperation to get the dogs off of him.

Then all of the dogs started licking his closed mouth. "Help, they're kissing me!"

I remember that day like it was yesterday.

Back to the present:

I walked back to the kitchen to grab the sheet that I had to fill out.

_Are there any pens anywhere? _Then I noticed that the paper felt a little heavy. Attached to the bottom of the sheet was a bright orange pen. Below it said:_Use this!_

I shrugged and peeled the tape off of the pen. Doing it carefully, I avoided ripping any paper in the process.

The sheet had some really odd questions. Like for example: _Have you ever peed your pants after the age of six?_

I answered:_No_

_Do you think you are capable of feeling like a rich person?_

_I already do._

_Do you think the castle is pretty?_

_I don't know._

_What are your favorite kind of trees?_

_I don't know._

_Do you think your dorm is big enough?_

_Sure._

_Do you like cooking?_

_I guess._

_Do you like reading?_

_I guess._

_Do you like gardening?_

_Not really._

_Do you like cheese?_

_I guess._

I lifted the ball-point pen off of the paper for a second.

_Man, these questions are really weird._

_Do bright colors intimidate you?_

_No._

_Do dark colors make you depressed?_

_No._

_How often do you take a shower/bath?_

_Every two days._

_Speaking of bathing, I need to take a shower tonight._

_Do you think of rainbows every five seconds?_

_I hate rainbows._

_Do you love to shave?_

_Not really._

_Is pink your favorite color?_

_I hate pink._

_Do you hate everything?_

_Maybe._

_What do you not like about your uniform?_

_Ribbons._

_Would you like different songs on your alarm clock?_

_YES._

_What kind of video games do you like?_

_RPG, Adventure, Computer, Super Smash Bros. Brawl._

_Do you like eating in a healthy way?_

_I hate eating healthy food._

_Which is better? Meat or Vegetables?_

_Meat._

_What is the best soda that makes you burp?_

_Root Beer._

_Do you like noodles?_

_They're okay._

I flipped over to the back page.

_What kind of fruit do you hate the most?_

_I don't know._

_Do you think these questions are weird?_

_YES._

_Do you want any pets?_

_Maybe._

_Do you like buying stuff?_

_Not really._

_Do you like homework?_

_Not really._

_Is "not really" your favorite sentence?_

_Not really._

_If you could learn anything, just one thing, what would it be?_

_Who came up with these questions?_

_List all things you want in your dorm below:_

_Pool, Computer, Two Desks, More books/bookcases, dining table, chairs to go with table and desks, drawer full of paper and pencils/pens, decent shampoo and conditioner, decent deodorant, MP3 Player._

_LAST QUESTION: Do you think I'm pretty?_

_I don't know._

The instructions on the survey was to throw away the paper.

_Why would I do that?_

So I tossed the paper into the trash bin next to me and waited.

I figured out that Ven had woken because he sarted yelling. "Terra, help, I'm being eaten!"

Rushing to the living room, I noticed that Ven was on the floor...laughing?

Instead of being eaten, he was being licked by a white kitten with a red bow around it's neck.

"How'd that thing get here?" I asked as Ven tried get the kitten to stop licking his nose.

"You just filled out the sheet, right?" Ven questioned while trying not to laugh.

"Well, yeah, but I didn't ask for a kitten." I pointed out.

"Well, you must've, otherwise all this stuff wouldn't have popped out of nowhere." My gaze looked around to the computer in the corner and the rest of the stuff I asked for. Some pet supplies were heaped in a pile.

"You said yes to the pets question, right?"

"No, I said maybe."

"Did you say what pet you wanted?" Ven asked as I ran back to the trash bin in the kitchen.

The paper was...gone? But I had just threw it in there!

Ven came into the kitchen with the kitten peeking it's head out of his jacket pocket.

"It's gone." I searched desperately through the black bin.

"Well, then you're stuck with the kitten." At that, the kitten jumped out of Ven's pocket and walked to the front of me.

"Meow!" it looked up at me with it's innocent blue eyes.

"But cats hate me." The kitten started to sniff my feet; it then started to bat at my shoes with it's snowy paw.

"Evidently, this one doesn't." Ven pointed out as the kitten started rubbing against me.

I sighed and walked away from the kitten. Looking back, I saw that the kitten was following me and meowing.

"Shoo." I bent over and nudged it away. Instead of going away, it sniffed my hand and rubbed against it.

The kitten's motor had started running as it kept rubbing against me.

"You're a cat, you're supposed to hate me." I whispered to the content kitten.

"Meow!" it innocently stared at me in confusion.


	13. Terra's Story:Book 1:Chapter 12

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep Zero-Book 1-Chapter 12

DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything except my own characters :) ALSO NOTE: I have changed Terra's story to book 1, 2, and 3, while Aqua's is book 4, 5, and 6. Ven's story is book 7-9. This chapter is dedicated to Nightshroud and projectfreg91 for reviewing. Thank you, you all have made me work even harder on this story! ANOTHER NOTE: I won't be able to write as often as I would want to (school and church), so if I don't update for a few days, don't worry, even if I haven't submitted a chapter for a week, I will not quit this story. :)

Thank you, Eternal Symphonia

DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything, blah blah, you get the point, right?

"Stupid cat." I muttered as Yuki, the snowy white cat, started to follow me. It was the day after I got her, and she had constantly followed me around for hours. She even jumped up on my bed while I was sleeping, and curled up on my head.

"Meow!" Yuki innocently batted at my pants leg.

"Go away, I have to go train." I nudged her away softly.

Looking at the clock made me hurry;making me almost trip over Yuki. "Can't you go play with your toys?" After this, she meowed again and rubbed against me.

Before I ran out to the main hall, I looked back at her and slammed the door in her face.

"Finally, I get time away from that thing." Even though I felt bad about calling Yuki a "thing" afterwards, I couldn't help but remember how annoying she was.

"Welcome, Terra." Master Oni greeted as I entered his office.

"Not surprisingly, you are the first one here." I glanced around his study to find out that, once again, Aqua and Ven were not even here.

At that, Aqua burst into the room and apologized for being late.

"If you are late one more time this month, you will have to be punished." Master Oni warned.

"Yes, Master Oni." Aqua bowed in apology.

"Hi!" Ven burst in the room almost the same way Aqua did.

"Hello, I see you're the first one here Ventus." Master Oni sarcastically greeted ven.

Ven rubbed the back of his head and bowed. "Sorry." he chuckled.

A sudden thought came to my mind.

"Master Oni, you know when Geezernort raised Mickey's rank?" I asked.

"You mean Master Xehanort?" Master Oni "corrected" me.

"Sure." I "agreed".

Master Oni raised his eyebrow at my refusal to respect Geezernort.

"Do we get to have our rank raised as well?" I ended with a grin.

"Eventually, yes." Master Oni informed us. "Only if you're on time to our training sessions, though." he added while staring daggers at Ven and Aqua. In response, Ven and Aqua glued their stare to the carpet in embarrassment.

"Okay, I'm done." I announced.

"Good." Master Oni smiled.

"Now, every day you train, you will have more than just one subject and teacher." Master Oni informed us.

Ven and I sighed tremendously while Aqua's eyes twinkled in anticipation.

"You will learn mathematics-" Master Oni was interrupted by Ven booing at the first subject. I knew Ven had hated Math, so it wasn't a surprise to me. "Keep your mouth shut." Master Oni ordered Ven.

"Mathematics, History, Language Arts, Health-" Master Oni was interrupted once again, except it was because Ven had yelped in horror at having to learn health. Most of Health class didn't bother Ven, but some very "descriptive" parts of Health freaked the crap out of him.

"I told you Ventus, if you do not keep that mouth of yours shut, I'll make sure you never want to speak again." Master Oni pointed his white finger at Ven while raising his silver eyebrow.

"But Health class is scary!" Ven yelled while closing his eyes in horror.

"Too bad." Master Oni unsympathetically concluded much to Ven's dismay.

"Health, Second Languages, Cooking-" Master Oni was interrupted for a third time by Ven's booing.

"Boooooooo!" Ven rudely yelled.

"Cooking's for women!" At this, Aqua slapped Ven across the face for his disrespect towards cooking and women.

"What was that for?" Ven asked while rubbing his cheek. Aqua didn't respond.

"Cooking, Botanical Study, Magical Arts, Keyblade Training, Study Hall, Science, Geography, and one extra class." Master Oni listed off all of the classes.

"What options are there for the extra class?" Aqua asked while repeating all of our thoughts.

"Let's see, Woodworking, Art, Choir, Piano, Astronomy, Chemistry, and advanced versions of the classes you will be taking." Master Oni listed the extra classes while brushing the tips of his gloved fingers lightly.

"Here." Master Oni held out three papers.

I was the first one to grab one of the sheets. It was a sign-up sheet of which the extra classes were listed with check-off boxes next to them.

Then he thrust out his gloved hand with three pencils intertwined between.

When I tried to grab one of them, he pulled his hand away. Then, I tried to grab one again, but failed.

"You may take the pencil." Master Oni allowed while uncurling his previously tightened glove, making a crunching sound from the white leather.

So, I tried again, but to no avail I failed.

"I said, you can take the pencil." Master Oni repeated with a mischievous smirk apparent on his wrinkly face.

"Will you let me?" I repeated Master Oni's grin in anticipation of long awaited challenge.

He simply dropped the yellow pencil into my outstretched hand. Even though he made it seem extremely easy, I knew that it wasn't.

I slowly set my hand down upon the paper, but as soon as I did, Master Oni had the pencil back in his hand.

_That's weird; I didn't even see him touch it. _

"Master Oni!" the midnight blue door to the study slammed harshly upon the wall.

"Yes?" Master Oni responded to the matching voice.

"That filthy little cockroach is guilty!" Master Xehanort blamed me for some unknown crime.

"I didn't do anything!" I claimed to Master Xehanort's anger.

"Come here, filth." Mr.Clean pointed to the floor in front of him.

"Yeah, right." I turned around in my chair to face Master Oni.

The bald man came up behind me and pinched my neck with no intention of mercy. He then dragged me out to the main hall where all of the students were gathered.

As I was helplessly being dragged towards a destination unknown, the other students' curious eyes were thrust into my direction.

In return, I waved with a fragile grin plastered on my face. To my delight, some of the other oddly dressed students waved back in reply.

_What do I do to get myself out of this? I wonder..._

I quickly threw my hand out to summon Eternal Horizons. The cerulean blue, tarnished gold, and scarlet blade appeared in my outstretched hand.

To make Master Xehanort let go of my neck, I swung my blade upon his back lightly to warn him that the most ugly sword in the world had returned to punish him for disrespecting it's master.

Well, okay, I didn't even know how to use it exactly, so I couldn't possibly be it's "master"; but I can dream, can't I?

"What!?" Xehanort twisted his upper body to see what had brushed his shoulder. From doing that, I slashed the blade across his nose, resulting in giving him a light cut. The cut hadn't started to bleed until Master Geezernort crossed his eyes at the point of pain. The blood ran down each side of his pale nose, contradicting his almost pure white skin.

"You fiend." he whispered. I grinned at him in a mischievousness.

"My awesomeness surpasses yours." I triumphantly grinned at his scowl.

"Since when are you "awesome"?" Master Xehanort disbelieved my "claim".

"Don't argue with awesomeness." I shook my index finger in front of his face.

"Bah!" Xehanort yelled in disgust.

"Bah." I mocked him with my eyes crossed and tongue stuck out.

"That is enough talking child; rise and fight!" Master Xehanort ordered with his trademark grin.

In response, I rose to my feet and held Eternal Horizons in my right hand.

"Okay." I shrugged innocently.

As Master Xehanort sprinted to thrash me with his fiery blade, I quickly raised my Keyblade to block. Xehanort smiled as if he had something up his sleeve.

He did, for he stuck out his unused left hand to face me with Darkness shrouding it.

_Gotta think fast...Jump! _My fast thinking did the trick when Master Xehanort's gloved hand was situated where my heart would have been.

"Nah!" I stuck my tongue out once again at Xehanort as I landed from evading his purple Keyblade.

The only sound I heard for the next few moments was Geezernort's onyx boots squeaking as he turned to face me, and the rattling of the keychain dangling off of the handle of his weapon.

"You're so COOL!!" Yamada's voice echoed through the halls as he made his way through the rush of navy blue and gold.

"Help me!" I screamed as the mob of students let me pass through.

Instead of continuing to run, my metal shoe made an eerie squeak as I spun around on one foot to face Yamada with Eternal Horizons.

"Cooleeeeeee!" Yamada squealed as he slid across the floor on one foot to avoid his chest meeting the blade facing him.

Thankfully, he stopped just as the tip of Eternal Horizons met his torso.

"Heh!" Yamada smiled with his hands and one foot in the air.

"We're not done yet, foolish imbecile!" Xehanort called from across the hallway.

"Sometime later, okay?" I called back in anticipation of continuing our fight.

By now, Yamada had run quite far away from me, pointing back and announcing that I couldn't take his "coolness" away from him for long.

"We'll go with that." I pointed back with my eyebrow raised.

"What trouble did you get yourself in; fighting with a Keyblade Master?" a recognizable voice questioned as I turned around.

"Come, you must finish your extra class sheet." Master Oni tossed the pencil to my feet.

"Are you angry at me for getting in a fight with "Master Xehanort"?" I asked while using my fingers to add sarcasm.

"I can't blame you." Master Oni sighed in

"Are you going to let me actually use the pencil this time?" I asked him as the pencil rolled into my hand.

As I got up, Master Oni smiled in a sly manner.

"Maybe."

I entered the blue and gold study with the pencil intertwined in between my limp fingers.

"What happened?" Aqua asked me with concern in her eyes.

"Nothing special." I fibbed.

"I seriously doubt that." Ven contradicted my lie.

"Can we have more than one extra class?" Aqua's question thrust Master Oni's concentration from his desk to her voice.

"Yes." he dropped his bald head back to the quill and letter that lay upon the wooden desk.

_It's like Master Oni is Light, and Xehanort is Darkness. _I compared the twins while staring at Master Oni's light appearance and remembering Geezernort's darker one.

Master Oni had felt my stare on him, for he raised his head to see where the feeling had come from. I instantly thrust my stare back down to the paper on my lap.

Master Oni's chuckle echoed around the room followed by dead silence; except for the scribbling of his quill and the sound of pencil on paper.

_I'll go for Astronomy and Woodworking. _I decided as I checked the two boxes on the paper.

"Astronomy?" Ven asked out loud.

"Only creepy band geeks sign up for that; you're not a band geek, are you Terra?" Ven rudely shoved my pencil from the paper to erase the check mark.

Afterwards, Master Oni got up from his desk chair and headed towards Ven with his blue quill in hand. Before he reached Ven, he swiftly dabbed the point in black, uneraseable ink.

"No, I'm a band geek now!" Ven fretted while twitching as Master Oni checked the Astronomy box on Ven's sheet.

"Erase it!" Ven threw his pale arms into the air in fear.

"It's checked with ink, I couldn't _possibly _erase it." Master Oni smiled at Ven jumping off the rocket.

"But I'm not a band geek!" Ven squeaked, almost on the verge of possible hysteria.

"Oh well." Master Oni sent me another cheesy wink.

_I swear everything in my life is cheesy; my Keyblade, my Keyblade's name, my uniform, those weird winks, Geezernort, Ven's breath. _I listed off all of the cheesy things in my thoughts.

"Can I have another sheet then?" Ven begged with his fingers criss-crossed.

"I don't know where the other ones are." Master Oni shrugged while not even pausing to look around.

"Master Oni, I have urgent news." an unfamiliar apprentice announced after slamming the door of the study.

"How many shall interrupt me today?" Master Oni impatiently stood from his chair.

"Come with me." the apprentice rudely ordered the elder to his side.

"You three stay here." Master Oni told us as he walked out of the room with the red-haired apprentice.

After Master Oni left the room, Aqua jumped out of her seat and announced something VERY out of character.

"I'm following him." she headed towards the door in determination.

Ven and I stared at each other. Usually I was the one to suggest such things; even Ven barely did things like that.

"Are you sure?" I asked in perplexity.

"Of course; you do it all the time, right?" Aqua pointed out as she turned the brass door handle.

"Yeah, but it's out of character for you; usually you're the goody-goody, or the teacher's pet." Ven made Aqua frown.

"So what; I'm bored to death." Aqua sighed.

"Me, too!" Ven and I raised our hands in unison.

"Then, come along!" Aqua snatched our raised wrists and dragged us out of the door.

"What are they saying?" Ven questioned in a whisper.

"- is very urgent, Master Oni." the apprentice repeated in a worried tone.

"Don't tell me my brother blew up another science lab!" Master Oni rolled his eyes followed by a slow, irritated sigh.

"No, it is very important." the apprentice urged.

"So I've heard." Master Oni flicked his gloved fingers in impatience.

"Now, I was told to not tell anyone this message except you, so-" the fiery haired apprentice was interrupted.

"Yes, yes, get on with the program here." Master Oni leaned forward to look into the apprentices frightened eyes.

"Hades is here to request for your assistance." the apprentice pointed to the dark-robed figure heading towards them.

"What does that hot-headed, insolent buffoon want now?" Master Oni rolled his eyes as he headed towards the literally hot-headed man.

All three of us creeped closer to listen in; though the bad part was that Ven tripped over my shoe in the process.

"Who was THAT!?" Hades's blue hair turned a sudden crimson.

"Ven!" Aqua and I whispered at Ven's clumsiness.

"It's not my fault that you have feet the size of a monkey!" Ven insulted me with a VERY terrible comeback.

"A monkey?" I asked him in a loud voice, making Master Oni and Hades turn towards our position.

"How many bad insults DO you have?!" I chuckled and yelled at Ven.

"You're not very good at spying, are you?" Master Oni's voice thrust us away from our glaring competition.

"Now who is this?!" Hades screamed in fury.

"Calm down, Hades." Master Oni soothed.

"Come over here now!" Hades ordered.

"Which one?" we all asked in unison.

"You two!" Hades pointed his, well, pointy fingers at Ven and I.

"So, you've chosen a spiky-haired monkey and a porcupine for apprentices."

_Why does everyone call me a porcupine!? _I screamed to myself in fury.

"Well, at least I've never been hot-headed." I pointed to the flames on Hades's cerulean head.

Hades ignored the comment and dug himself a higher number on my list of "people I hate".

"I'm disappointed in you; surely you would have picked more...what's that word again?" Hades poked his temples in perplexity.

"Acceptable apprentices perhaps?" Hades now was number three on my hate list.

"Do you ever sweat from having fire for hair?" Ven asked a very reasonable question. Obviously, Hades thought the opposite.

"You insolent child!" his hair and skin had turned a fiery red.

"What?" Ven asked in confusion.

"It was just a dumb question, I mean..." Ven's voice trailed off at seeing Hades running towards him in fury.

"Help me!" Ven used me as his shield.

"I'm not the only one with a Keyblade, you know!" I thrust out my right hand to summon Eternal Horizons.

"Dun Dun Dun Dun!" Aqua interrupted.

"This looks like a job for... Faded Destiny!" Aqua "announced" her Keyblade's arrival.

"Am I the only one who's Keyblade-" I was stopped in midsentence by Hades's furious attack.

"Feel the heat!" Hades threw a blue fire ball at the oncoming blue-haired girl.

_Now I've seen AND heard everything cheesy in existence._

Then, Hades suddenly thrust two blue fire balls at Ven and I. Luckily, I blocked it with Eternal Horizons; but Ven wasn't so lucky...

"Are you okay?" I instantly dropped to my knees to see how serious his wound was. To my dismay, Ven's burn mark was even worse than I had thought. Instead of the usual red burn mark, it was the same color as Hades's sky-blue hair. The weirdest part about it was that instead of bleeding with crimson, the wound had blue velvet oozing down the side of his upper arm.

"I'm bleeding!" Ven panicked.

_Why is he bleeding blue blood? _I asked myself, half knowing that it had something to do with the fact that he was hit by a _blue_ fireball.

"What did you do to him?" I stood up to face Hades head-on.

"He got what he deserved; no details needed." Hades casually turned his back to me.

"Turn and face me." I ordered him.

"Have you forgotten that you're talking to the Lord of the Underworld?" Hades threw his arms down at the "lack" of knowledge I had.

"You mean the Underworld of Pansies?" I raised my eyebrow in defiance.

"Shut up and let's see how your much your moves match your mouth." Hades dared.

"You're looking at the wrong person to fight, buddy."

.


	14. Terra's Story:Book 1:Chapter 13

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep Zero Chapter 13

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Disney stuff or Squeenix/Nomura stuff. Only my own stuff I own:)

(I don't get why Ven hates Astronomy; I love astronomy)

ATTENTION: I need you people who read my story to help me out, okay? FIRST QUESTION: I need you guys/girls to help me choose what worlds Ven, Aqua, and Terra go to. The world can't be a Final Fantasy one :( because I haven't played many of them (only X and some of X-2) The worlds I already know about are Cinderella, Snow White, Sunset Horizons(place in trailers), Aladdin, HB/Radiant Garden, Destiny Islands, Hercules, Sleeping Beauty, and Twilight Town.

The ones I could possibly add are:The Little Mermaid(don't worry, no musicals. Unless you think Terra singing would be awesome.) Halloween Town, Hunchback of Notre Dame, Pooh's Grand Adventure(Terra and Pooh holding hands:), Bambi, Lady and the Tramp, and one different Miyazaki movie(Kiki's delivery service, Princess Mononoke, The Cat Returns, etc...) per character, and Balto. Now, I need one Disney/Miyazaki movie that has cats in it(poor Terra!) Your choices are:

The Cat Returns(if you haven't seen it, do so now!), The Aristocats, or the Lion King.

NOW: I need your help on what TAV should be in each world. I need forms for Halloween Town, The Little Mermaid, Lion King(possibly), The Aristocats(probably a cat), and Bambi(possibly). Your help and opinion will be of much help to me, and I'd appreciate it.

POSSIBLE MIYAZAKI MOVIES: Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, My Neighbor Totoro(it would be adorable), Howl's Moving Castle, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Laputa:Castle in the Sky, The Cat Returns(I know that it wasn't a full Miyazaki movie, but I think it could possibly work out well), Tales from Earthsea(again, made by Miyazaki's son, not Miyazaki), or any other Studio Ghibli/Miyazaki movies.

Tell me by review or any other possible way. If none of you guys/girls tell me what to pick, I will pick them myself, and there WILL be musicals in Ariel's world MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!(Just kidding)

I NEED YOUR OPINIONS VERY SOON! TERRA AQUA and VEN WILL BE GOING TO WORLDS IN A FEW CHAPTERS!!

"So, are you going to go first, or shall I?" Hades thrust his scarlet arms in front of him and summoned another cerulean fireball.

"You think you're so great, don't you?" The fireball was sitting on his upturned palm.

"You don't?"

In response, Hades threw the ball of fire straight at me; this one was much bigger than the ones he threw at me and Ven. I lazily raised Eternal Horizons with only four of my fingers to block the oncoming attack. When the fireball hit the blade, it fizzled out with a squeaking noise.

"Wow, that was soooooo painful." I rolled my eyebrows.

"You just wait, kiddo!" Hades warned while summoning three huge fireballs behind his robed back.

"How does this feel?!" Before he threw the fireballs, I once again raised Eternal Horizons to block.

The three new fireballs hit my Keyblade and fizzled out with a squeal similar to the previous one.

_What a crack-pot._

"It's so painful, I just can't watch!" To add to the insult, I covered my blue eyes in "horror".

"This will be even more painful!" Hades pointed one of his fingers at Eternal Horizons.

"Ouch!" I yelled as my blade turned molten red from the sudden heat. Not being able to use my Keyblade was going to make this a little more challenging; not that it was even challenging in the first place.

"Now you can't block my fireballs!" his scowl transformed into a triumphant smirk.

"But I can dodge them!" I pointed out as Hades threw another huge fireball at my position. The fireball barely missed me by about a centimeter.

"Not forever, though." Hades shook his butt at me.

_He's asking for it, isn't he?_

While taunting me, I ran up behind him and kicked his butt so harshly that he actually flew halfway across the hall.

"I'm leaving!" Hades got up and created a portal of blue fire.

"Leaving so soon?" I raised my eyebrow at his failure to win.

"I'll get you someday, child!" he once again pointed a finger at me as the portal dissapeared with Hades inside.

"Thank you, Terra; you have saved me from hearing a year's worth of complaints." Master Oni clamped his hand on my shoulder.

"Now, go to my office and sit down."

_Why does Master Oni always let me get away with this stuff? _I asked myself.

Master Oni kneeled down by Ven. A green aura burst from his gloved hand as Ven's wound literally melted away.

_Is that what the voice meant? Magic? _

As we walked back to Master Oni's study, the elder nudged me with his shoulder. "You're wondering what I did back there to heal Ven's wound, aren't you?"

"I guess." I shrugged my shoulders.

"I'll teach it to you sooner or later." Oni promised.

NEXT DAY:

"Now, I will introduce you to your new classes." Master Oni announced as all three of us shuffled the paper of our schedules.

"What classes do you have again, Ven?" I grabbed his schedule before he could respond.

_Let's see..._

_First Hour-Science_

_Second Hour-Language Arts_

_Third Hour-Math_

_Fourth Hour-Second Languages_

_Fifth Hour-History_

_Sixth Hour-Health_

_Seventh Hour-Botanical Study_

_Eighth Hour-Geography_

_Ninth Hour-Astronomy_

_Tenth Hour-Cooking_

_Eleventh Hour-_

_Wait, eleventh hour?_

_Eleventh Hour-Magical Arts_

_Twelfth Hour-Study Hall_

_Thirteenth Hour-Woodworking_

"Master Oni, why are there thirteen hours?" I was puzzled of how we could possibly fit thirteen classes in one day.

"Each class is thirty minutes long, so that would be equivalent of six hours and thirty minutes."

"Where does lunch fit in?" Ven asked about his favorite "class".

Master Oni ignored the question and told us that classes would start at seven in the morning, and end at one thirty in the afternoon. Then, we would have training sessions with him for two hours afterwards.

"Do you teach any classes, Master Oni?" Aqua asked while lifting her stare to him.

"I teach Astronomy, Health, and Math." he smiled innocently at Ven, whose eyes became the size of tennis balls.

"All of your hated classes smooshed together, Ven" I grinned at the frightened teen.

"You choose to teach those classes on purpose, didn't you?" Ven pointed at the elder.

"No, I only teach those classes in hour three, six, and nine."

Ventus gulped in tension. Having Master Oni for a teacher in his most hated classes would have him be seen at his worst.

I glanced back at our schedules.

_Let's see... I have Magical Arts, Cooking, Astronomy, Geography, and Health with Ven._

_Poor Ven, I'll have so much that I could blackmail him with from health class._ I chuckled with anticipation.

_I have Astronomy, Study Hall, Botanical Study, and Cooking with Aqua. _

"We all have Astronomy together." I announced out loud.

"Does "Master" Xehanort teach any classes?" Asking this made Master Oni jump a bit.

"I almost forgot to tell you; Master Xehanort and his apprentice Igneous will be joining us in training sessions." Master Oni quickly added "I know you don't...agree with all of his ways, but he insisted that he watch your progress."

"It's as if he doesn't think I am able to train an apprentice." Master Oni sighed with annoyance.

"Even though I taught about half of the Keyblade Masters here!" he thrust out his arms to make his point more believable.

"Yen Sid, Hikari," the elder listed all of the names of his previous apprentices.

"And I thought Yen Sid was even older than him." Ven whispered, making me chuckle.

"What is so funny!?" Master Oni stared at our ignorance of his rambling.

"Nothing!" Ven and I fibbed in unison.

"Why does Xehanort have to watch us train; I hate him." Master Oni raised his snowy eyebrow.

"Fine, why does "Master" Xehanort have to watch us train?" I rolled my eyes.

"As I told you before, he doesn't have to, he, for some reason, wants to."

"Now, it is almost time for your classes, so grab a few notebooks and some pencils from the drawers next to you." Master Oni dabbed his gloved finger at the wooden drawers next to our chairs.

On our cue, we all grabbed thirteen notebooks and three pencils from the drawers.

"I will take you to your class first, Terra." Master Oni clutched my shoulder tightly.

"What is your first class, anyways?" the old man questioned while looking straight ahead at a space of nothing.

Glancing at my schedule, then looking back at Master Oni, I noticed that Eternal Horizons was still being held tightly in my palm.

"What exactly IS a Keyblade?" I had forgotten about Oni's previous question due to wondering where Eternal Horizons came from.

"Ask it yourself." Master Oni ordered, making me wonder how I could possibly ask an inanimate object a question.

"Huh?" I cocked my head the side in confusion.

This was followed by a deep, rumbling laugh echoing from the elder's throat.

"Terra, why did you instantly choose to become my apprentice without question?"

Staring at my feet gave him the signal that I wasn't going to answer. In fact, I didn't know, and I did. I thought that somehow, this was all connected to the mural in my dream.

"Destiny." I answered with one simple word.

It may have been one simple word, but it's meaning stretched across countless eons of history.

"Or was it fate?" Master Oni asked as the pale green door to my first class swung open to greet us.

"Welcome, new student." another deep voice greeted as I walked into the forest green room.

Inside the classroom I heard whispers. "A new student?" one would ask. Another would simply answer, "Must be one of Master Oni's apprentices."

"Students, we have a new student joining us today." the teacher announced from behind his matching green desk.

_Is there anyone I know in this class? _I asked myself hoping that Yamada or that blond wench wasn't in here.

Sadly, the blond wench WAS in here, but luckily Yamada wasn't.

To my dismay, the teacher, or Master Nakamura informed me that my seat was the empty desk next to the blondie.

"Hey there!" The blond girl waved to me with a very high pitched voice.

"Hi." I mumbled in reply.

"You're not all that ugly, you know." she raised her golden eyebrow in a playful manner.

"So I've heard." I mumbled in sarcasm while balancing my head on my fist.

"This is Terra Hamada." the Science teacher introduced.

"Isn't Tara a girl's name?" one student mistakened the spelling of my name.

"This Terra is spelt T-e-r-r-a." the teacher spelt my name the correct way.

"Anyways, back to class." I didn't hear the rest of the lesson of metamorphic rocks mainly because the blond girl next to me, named Sakura, wouldn't stop flailing her hands around and telling me how "CUTE" I was.

If I didn't know any better, I would've thought she was even worse than Pico.

_Where is Pico, anyway? _I hoped that asking myself this question wouldn't summon Taryn to this classroom. The worst that could happen is if Pico and Sakura were in the same class together. Just imagining them fighting over me made this morning's muffins want to leap out of my stomach and dance on my desk.

"So, have you been to any other worlds yet?" Sakura's question jerked me out of the lesson.

"Other...worlds?" I asked her in confusion.

"Don't tell me Master Oni didn't tell you about the other worlds." she shook her manicured fingernail in suggested pity.

"You have a Keyblade already, and you don't even know anything about it?" How could I possibly know anything about a giant key and a forty-year-old fatty who calls himself a "chaser"? How could a mural affect my serious decisions? Why can't Ven remember anything about his past? What was that mysterious power that possessed me when I was thrown into a fit of rage? Who was Master Eterika? Why am I asking myself so many questions?

Questions, questions, questions. Were they searches for truth? Of course they were. Or were they ways to clog your heart and spirit with fake truth? Both, probably.

"Are you okay?" the girl innocently stuck out her bottom lip.

"Yeah." I mumbled once again.

After second hour, or second languages, I had Math class with Ven. Hopefully I wouldn't have a assigned seat for this class, so I could help Ven out once in a while. Being pretty good at math made Ven less nervous for his math grades.

As usual, math class went smoothly for me. Unlucky for Ven, Master Oni called on him while he wasn't paying attention.

Ven's answer to the question was, "Blue!"

All the girls in the class giggled at him while the boys bellowed at his inability to pay attention. Afterwards, Ven stared at the lone notebook sitting on his desk, the blank space carrying him away from his recent embarrassing situation.

"Don't worry." I reassured him that everyone would soon forget about it.

"Hmmm." Ven quietly mumbled in reply.

"Terra, Ven, pay attention!" Master Oni ordered across the room.

"Yes, sir." I replied alone; Ven was too busy staring off into space.

_Why is Ven so bummed about this? I mean, this happens all the time to him. _It was intriguing. Ven had always been in embarrassing situations like this. It shouldn't have been any different from the other countless scenarios.

_Maybe he just wanted to make a good first impression on the other apprentices._ I guessed silently.

Even in astronomy class Ven had done nothing but blankly stare at his notebook. Aqua had started to notice this, and had been nudging him in the shoulder and asking him what was wrong. The final time she had "pestered" him, he snapped at her harshly.

"Leave me alone." the blond teen ordered her rudely, while not even pausing to look at her.

"What's wrong with you?" punching him in the shoulder lightly afterwards had made a bad effect.

"Jackass." Ven cursed under his breath. Noticing that Aqua and I glanced at each other and shrugged afterwards had made Ven become even more snappy.

He swiped his arm across my desk, and my supplies crashed onto the blue carpeted floor.

Then, he got up abruptly and headed towards the door of the classroom. All of the students turned their heads at him and watched as the door was swung open as Ven took one step out of the classroom.

"Young man, where do you think you're going?" Master Oni grasped the crimson neck of Ven's uniform firmly.

I instantly jumped up from my desk to go after the boy who had knocked Master Oni to the ground .

"Please excuse me from class." I begged while bowing to the knocked over elder.

Before he could respond, I ran out after Ven to stop him.

We got to the hall of navy blue and golden yellow; the hall of our three dorms. Ven suddenly turned around and faced me, a blank stare still apparent on his abnormally pure white face.

"Who are you?"

He suddenly fell over and fainted, instantly creating a loud booming noise as his head and the marble impacted harshly.


	15. Terra's Story:Book 1:Chapter 14

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep Zero-Book 1-Chapter 14

DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything except my mind and my refrigerator.

Thank you to Nightshroud, projectfreg91, and Crazy Stalker Chick for reviewing! You people are my inspiration and you are the ones who keep me going. Even when I have writer's block, reading your reviews has kept pushing it away. It's makes me feel special to see that someone has spent their time to give me feedback about the story that I have worked so hard on. Thank you dear readers and reviewers, you spending time to read and review has put a smile on my face, and I hope my story lives up to your expectations.

PLEASE READ! I need your opinions on what worlds Terra, Aqua, and Ven should go to. I also need your opinions on what forms they will have in Halloween Town/Nightmare before Christmas world, the Lion King world(I have decided on Lion King for the cat world), and Ariel's world. If you submit an opinion on a world that they would probably need a different form for(like if you say Terra should be a Grim Reaper, or a Werewolf for Halloween Town), you can add a form along with it.

Please review your opinion, or e-mail me at to tell me your ideas. I would very much appreciate it if you would do this for me. You must e-mail or review your opinions by the end of the week, for TAV(Terra, Aqua, and Ven) will be going to at least one different world in two or three chapters. The opinions of my readers and reviewers are precious to me, for without you guys/girls, this story would never have continued. Extra thanks goes to Nightshroud for entering his opinion, I appreciate it. :)

Thank you for your time, Eternal Symphonia.

"Ven!"

_Please let him be okay. _I prayed silently, remembering the sound that was made as his head collided with the white marble stone.

Nothing was wrong with him except for the fact that he was still a little pale, and his breaths had become gasps for air.

"Is he okay?" I hadn't even noticed Aqua was there.

"I think he's just unconscious." The blond teen's fainting reminded me of when he had sleepwalked straight into the wall of my dorm, making him fall over from bumping his head too hard.

"What happened?" Ven instantly cocked his head up.

"Well, you had anger problems, knocked stuff off of Terra's desk, threw Master Oni to the ground, and fainted." Aqua summed it up harshly, her hands on her hips. I assumed she was waiting for an explanation from Ven, but the teen just lay his head back down and said nothing.

"My head hurts." Ven stuck his tongue out while grimacing from his headache.

"Did I really do all that?" his eyes were filled with disbelief and confusion.

_How could not know that? He's the one who did all that stuff! _I looked at him in deep thought. _Was he being controlled by some unknown force? _Remembering the power that had controlled me when I had become angered made it seem possible.

The only question I had was, _Was it the same unknown wave of power that possessed me? Could Ven have been sunk into so many dark thoughts and feelings, that it had invited the dark power in? _It was all very perplexing; I mean, he was pretty bummed about making a bad first impression on the other students in our math class, but stuff like that just didn't bother him. So why would it bother him now?

_Maybe he was thinking about his forgotten memories._ I guessed silently. _That's about the only thing that makes him upset; that, and Aqua getting angry at him._

But Aqua wasn't actually angry at him when she harshly laid out his faults in front of him, she just gets that way when she's upset; harsh, cranky, and overly concerned.

Even though Ven never admitted it to me, unlike how he admits everything else to me, I knew that Aqua had stolen his heart and affections. _That's why he was angry at the fact that Aqua had her eyes on that other apprentice._

I had never really had a crush on anyone, so Ven never talked to me about that stuff. The only crush I've ever had was in second grade. It was a crush on Aqua; but that only lasted until I was eight. Besides, I don't think Aqua would ever like me back. I thought Ven had a better chance with her than I did, anyway. The depressing part was that Aqua was oblivious at the way he would stare at her all the time. _Being ignored by the one who has stolen your affections must be painful. _I didn't know if that was true or not, because I never really liked anyone. But I was sure of it because of the way Ven acted when she was angry at him, or unhappy with him. Even his emotions were invisibly tied to her; most of the time, if she was content, he was content. If she was angry at something, then Ven would despise what she hated.

_How can Aqua not see his obvious crush?_

By now the halls had been filled to brim with students rushing to their next class. If it hadn't been for me and Aqua standing around Ven, he would have been trampled by the sprinting apprentices.

"A cool person has been knocked to the floor!?" Yamada instantly jumped up and down in front of Ven in horror.

"I shall save you, cool person!" he thrust his right fist into the air, pretending to be a flying Superman.

Ven was "saved" as Yamada held out his hand to help him up. "Thanks." Ven mumbled as he grabbed Yamada's hand to help himself up.

"You better get to your next class." Surprisingly, Yamada didn't obsess over the fact that we were "cool".

"Are you okay?" Aqua poked at his shoulder to make sure he was real.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Yamada's eyebrow was raised in suspicion.

"Well, see you." he waved as the bell rang, echoing across the hall and becoming silenced as the students in uniforms and armor rushed to not be late.

We all looked at each other in confusion. "What's wrong with him?" Aqua questioned.

"I don't even want to know." Ven chuckled while rubbing the back of his blond spikes.

"Ventus, come over here NOW." Master Oni said the "now" part in tremendous fury. "What?" Ven looked at Master Oni in confusion while he walked over slowly.

I didn't hear anything from their conversation; I only saw Master Oni shaking his finger a bunch of times and Ven staring at his feet in shame. _He's getting chewed out. _I surmised silently.

"Yes, I understand." Ven admitted in apparent shame.

"Are you going to be punished?" Aqua looked at him in concern.

"Yeah, it's a really weird punishment, too."

Before we could ask him what his punishment actually was, he answered our silent question. "I have to sit in an empty room for a whole day and do nothing."

"Wow, I wish I could get punishments like that." I admitted, knowing that all my past punishments were way worse than sitting around and doing nothing.

"He'll probably do something fun with you guys to make me feel left out, or something similar to that.

"You are exactly right, Ventus; I am taking Terra and Aqua to another world without you." He smiled at Ven's disappointment.

"Different, worlds?" Aqua had become puzzled.

"You haven't heard of them?" Master Oni raised his eyebrow.

"I have." I raised my hand while remembering Sakura's words. _"Don't tell me Master Oni didn't tell you about the the other worlds yet."_

"What world would we be going to?" I asked.

"It's not a very exciting one." Master Oni admitted quietly, as if not to let Ven know that he wasn't missing out on much.

Ven's blue eyes glinted with shame and disappointment. I knew that he didn't mean to knock Master Oni over; he was being controlled. _Maybe I should mention that to Master Oni._

"He couldn't help it." I nudged Master Oni in the shoulder.

"What are you talking about!?" Master Oni yelled and asked at the same time. It reminded me of Xehanort; the same twinkling eyes, a serious expression with a scowl at bay.

"Ven was being possessed." The end of this sentence was followed by a gasp of disbelief.

"What gives you that idea?" Master Oni looked at me out of the corner of his snowy eye slyly.

"Well, first of all, he wasn't acting like himself, then his face became really pale, and he randomly fainted after I chased him around the castle."

"Then, when he woke up, he didn't recall any of it." I finished.

"What was he being possessed by?" Master Oni stared into my eyes without blinking. It was kind of funny to see him doing that because he had to crank his neck up to actually see my face.

"I don't know." I admitted with a darkened expression.

"Is there anything that could possibly upset Ventus; one reason that you know of?" Master Oni searched for a possible explanation.

"Well," I wasn't sure Ven would be okay with me telling him about his lost memories, but it was for his sake anyway.

"When he was fourteen, I found him on the beach of our hometown." I started the story and finished it after a few minutes of explaining.

"Why didn't you tell me this before!?" he questioned in fury, his anger starting to rise tremendously.

I shoved my arms in front of me to block any attacks from Master Oni; even if he wasn't going to hit me, I wasn't taking any chances.

"Hey, I'm not Ven; ask him about it." I shrugged, hoping that I didn't make Master Oni decide to chew Ven out again.

"Is it true that you lost your memories, child?" Master Oni had looked at him expectantly. Even though it was apparent, Master Oni didn't even care that he had hit a soft spot on Ven. The teen flinched and stared at his feet in reply.

"So, it is true." Master Oni sighed and looked down at his feet in deep thought; as if calling something from his long span of memories.

"What is true?" Ven looked up from his snowy white and black shoes to Master Oni's pacing about the hall.

"Nothing, nothing at all." he claimed. Though he seemed to be telling the truth, we could tell that he wasn't by the way he was lost in thoughts and memories, and how he restlessly walked back and forth.

A sudden thought came to mind. _I should ask Master Oni about Master Eterika._

"Hey,-" I was interrupted by Master Oni.

"You're wondering about Master Eterika, aren't you?" It seemed as if the elder had read my thoughts.

Before I could reply, he answered my unsaid question.

"As you know already, he was the original Keyblade Master of the Light." he reminded me.

"You said he disappeared?" After this, his face became an even lighter shade of white; if that was even possible.

"I am not going to speak about this to you, for I have no reason to." he stubbornly finished the discussion.

Accepting defeat, and also not wanting to make him furious, I walked over to Ven and Aqua, who were arguing over some ridiculous thing.

"No, Pepsi is better!" Ven thrust his fists down at his sides while he disputed.

"Coca-Cola is way better than Pepsi!" Aqua contradicted his statement.

"Terra, what's better; Coke or Pepsi?" Before they could drag me into the argument, I quickly shook my head. "Whoa, I'm not getting in the middle of this one." I took a few paces back from the glaring teens.

"Fraidy-cat!" Aqua pointed her finger at me in blame.

"Well, then Ventus may come along with us to the new world then." Master Oni's declaration jostled Aqua and Ven from the argument.

"When are we going?" the blond teen next to me looked at Master Oni in question.

"Right now."

"Yay!" Ven bursted out with his kiddish attributes showing.

"What is the name of the world?" Aqua's questioned jerked Master Oni away from his deep thinking.

The bald elder glanced at us slyly, obviously having something hiding under his sleeve. "You'll just love it there." he promised while his silvery-white eyes glinted with mischievousness.

"How do we even get there?" Ven asked in perplexity. "Teleporting, of course!" After this statement, Master Oni thrust out his white gloved hand to summon a portal much different than Xehanort's. Instead of darkness writhing within, it had a beautiful snowy white glow along with streaks of many different tints and shades of blue.

All three of us just stared at it for a few minutes before Master Oni urged us to go in. "Go on." he pushed Ven a little closer to the void of color.

"I'm not going in first!" Ven sprinted away from the portal and hid behind me.

"Aqua?" Master Oni waited for her to start walking towards the portal. She obliged and strided over to it slowly, keeping the act of caution fresh in her mind.

A familiar twinkling came from the portal, reminding me of the dream I had with the Chaser and Unbirths. Remembering this created a flashback.

_"The heart is the most obvious weak point, Terra. Never forget that." _the disembodied voice echoed around the edges of my thoughts.

"Terra, you are next." Master Oni's announcement rushed me out of my flashback. I noticed that Ven and Aqua had already stepped through the endless void, so it was my turn.

I walked over to the portal and stopped hesitantly just before my feet hit the swirl of white and blue. "Go!" A white glove gently poked my back, making me teeter and totter over the edge of the abyss.

Before I fell over headfirst into the void of light, I twisted around on one of my feet to see Master Oni waving to me in glee.

"Have fun while you're there." Master Oni ordered.

While I fell, I ignored the situation and crossed my arms in annoyance. I greeted his grin with a raised brunette eyebrow as everything was swallowed by blindingly pure light.


	16. Terra's Story:Book 1:Chapter 15

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep Zero-Chapter 15

DISCLAIMER: Someday I will rule over the universe of KH! But until then...

PLUS: I'm sorry to you dedicated readers that Ven, Aqua, and Terra have not yet started their journey to find Master Xehanort yet, but they will, so don't worry. I'm planning on Master Xehanort disappearing with his "cohort" within a few chapters. I'm the kind of person who loves a story that has foundation and a base, instead of it just leaping into the fray of conflict. The reason why it has taken about fifteen chapters to actually get things going is that I want to have people have a feeling for TAV's personalities, which will eventually affect the outcome of the story. Sorry for you action story lovers; don't worry, within a few days in the timeline of the story, TAV will have probably at least one battle per chapter. I hate stories where it just rattles on and on about blah blah this, and blah blah blah that, and I know it seems that this story is heading for that direction, but it certainly won't, I promise.

Thank you for your time, Eternal Symphonia.

The pure white light of the void disappeared as I hit chilly, solid ground. Instead of a having a snowy white glow, everything had turned into a dark world with a few lanterns scattered here and there. All of the sudden, my pants felt wet and sticky. I instantly got up from the black cobblestone and tried to see what I had sat on. A pile of orange pumpkin mush was apparent on the smooth black rock. I twisted around to see if any of the pumpkin was still attached to my pants. Of course, there was orange slime oozing down my thighs.

"Ughh..." I swiped my arm over the goo and without even looking at my hand, I flicked it onto the ground in disgust.

"Where is everybody?" Looking around told me that I was alone in this dark world.

_We must have been separated when we came through the portal. _I guessed silently. In front of me lay a winding black cobblestone path that lead to a group of about twenty Gothic-looking buildings.

So, I headed towards the lantern-lit town to see if anyone I knew was there waiting for me. Following the path, I started to hear wolves howling on the moors that surrounded the unprotected path.

_Don't worry, _I assured myself. _If they dare come close to you, you can just turn them into swiss cheese with Eternal Horizons._

A slight breeze that carried the smell of late Autumn caressed my cheeks. The feeling of it cooled my suddenly really itchy skin.

Ignoring the urge to scratch my skin off to the bone, I resumed on the path to civilization. Finally, I arrived at the middle of the town. Everywhere there were Halloween decorations and jack-o-lanterns lighting up the Gothic houses' windows.

The candlelight danced on the ornate stained glass.

"Impressive, isn't it?" a delighted voice asked behind my position. I instantly swiveled around to the previously disembodied voice. Standing in front of me was a skeleton with a toothy grin glued to something that wasn't a face. Glued to his...skull perhaps?

Stricken by surprise, I fell over onto my behind. "Are you okay?" the skeleton reached out his bony hand to help me up off of the stone.

"I'm fine." I brushed off my pants and ignored his offer of help as I got to my feet once again.

"My name is Jack; Jack Skellington!" This introduction was followed by a dramatic little jig of happiness.

"Okay..." I rubbed the back of my hair and rolled my eyes. I made sure the happy-go-lucky skeleton didn't see it, even though I had a feeling he was going to be on the list of "people I hate".

"What's your name, Mr.Werewolf?" Jack asked while blinking his empty eye holes in curiosity.

"Werewolf?" I asked out loud in perplexity.

"Well, look at yourself; you're hairy, tall, scary, toothy, and just downright ugly!" the skeleton added afterwards, "No offense."

_Mentally note that; Jack Skellington is now number four on hate list._

Jack Skellington was right; I was hairy, tall, scary, toothy, and NOT UGLY. I was surprised that I hadn't even noticed it before. "So, you still haven't given me your name yet." Jack urged.

I sighed and obliged, "My name's Terra." The skeleton tapped his skull with a white finger while searching for a lost memory.

"You know, I knew a witch named Terra once." he smiled.

"Why does everyone think Terra is a girl's name!?" I yelled out loud.

"Well, anger problems or not, it's nice to meet you." Jack ignored my question and thrust his hand out to shake mine.

I walked away from Jack's greeting and looked around. _Where could they be? _Jack interrupted my glancing around the town square and asked yet another question. "Looking for someone?" he tapped on my shoulder.

"Yeah, a blue haired teenage girl and an annoying blond teenage boy." I gave the brief description.

"Well, a few minutes ago I met a boy with a large scythe with spiky blond hair in the graveyard." Jack pointed to a squeaking iron gate across the square.

"He said that I looked cool, or something; do you think I look cool, too?" _God, I swear that the skeleton is just begging to have the crap beaten out of him. _I mentally grumbled.

Leaving Jack in the town square, I headed towards the eerie gate that led to the graveyard. After super-humanly leaping over the gate on my feet and hands, I saw that the graveyard was just a few meters away; a curly shaped hill stood beyond it under a full moon. "Ven!" I called through the misty jungle of tombstones.

"What!?" a recognizable voice hissed in surprise. Ven stepped away from a looming tombstone; he obviously was hiding behind it, for he hesitantly shuffled his way out from behind it. Ven was wearing a pure black cape with a large scythe suspended at his side. The metal blade looked somewhat similar to his Keyblade, with five prongs tracing the bottom cut of it.

His face looked like it was smothered in bird crap; it made the moon look like a dim star if you compared them closely.

"What are you? The Grim Reaper?" Ven twisted the scythe around in his hand, concentrating on deep thought. If it hadn't been for the two white fangs hanging over his bottom lip, I would have thought he was the Grim Reaper's doppelganger.

"I guess."

"Well, have you found Aqua yet?" This question jerked Ven away from his pondering.

"Yeah, she told me to wait here while she went looking for you." He sighed afterwards, "She wouldn't let me come along; I think it was because "I would just get lost" ." The teen added effect by sighing and rolling his dark cerulean eyes afterwards.

"What were you hiding from behind that tombstone?" While asking this question, I noticed that half of his body was still concealed behind the mold and fungus covered pedestal.

"Well, there was this creepy skeleton named Jack, and he kept asking me if he was "cool"." His whole body shivered at the thought of the skeleton before he continued on. "He wouldn't leave me alone until I told him that there was a giant monkey in the town square. I can't believe he bought it!"

"I mean, how dumb can people, errr, skeletons be?" He stared at me in confusion.

"So, I hid behind this tombstone hoping he wouldn't come back and find me." A joyous bellow sounded in the crisp air afterwards, "Ven, I'm back!" Jack waved in excitement.

"Crap." Ven jumped behind the silver pedestal in exaggerated fear.

"Hey, where'd that little man go?" Jack looked around the graveyard and kept calling the teen's name.

I glanced at the teen behind the moonlit tombstone and shrugged, "Maybe he was so awed by how awesome and cool you were, he just couldn't take it anymore." Ven was shaking extremely violently trying not to laugh at my sarcasm, letting out his joy by pounding on the dirt beside his foot.

"Yeah, you're probably right; I do know a lot of people who do that." Now Ven was rolling on the pine needles strewn over the ground. Finally, he couldn't take it anymore, so he burst out in happy tears and almost flew across the graveyard in hysteria.

"Hey there, I was looking for you." Jack tapped his finger at the teen that was howling with laughter.

"Sorry, sorry." Ven apologized while wiping the tears away from his pale eyelid.

"Hey, there you are!" A feminine voice called in relief.

Aqua scanned my appearance and smiled bleakly, "You look...different." She said it as if she was comparing me to Ven. In fact, I know she was comparing me to Ven because she glanced at him in-between the words "look" and "different", and she looked at him afterwards with her fake smile dissipating into a content one. Ven saw this and a bright ray of happy-go-lucky feelings hit his heart; eventually they were so apparent that he smiled with glee afterwards.

Replying to Aqua's "comment", I looked over her appearance as well; her medium blue hair was covered by a a black and purple patchwork witch's hat, while her face was also a pale color similar to that of Ven's. The matching patchwork dress that she wore flowed all the way down to her ankles and met her pointy black boots.

"You look so wonderful, too." I smirked in sarcasm, making Ven glare at me for even daring to insult Aqua. I returned the glare with cold blue eyes, pretty much telling him that even if I wouldn't dare to "harm" Aqua, I wouldn't just let her insult me like that.

After Jack Skellington introduced himself to Aqua, all four of us headed back into the village properly named "Halloween Town". I knew that Ven and Aqua were angry at me for insulting her outfit and appearance, but I just didn't care. They knew that insulting me wasn't a way to gain my sheer and utter respect, and that I wasn't just going to be a wimp and stand by when that happened; it just wasn't on my list of things to do.

"So, I haven't seen you three around here before; are you new to town?" Jack waited for an answer, eventually ending up with nothing but empty silence. Aqua and Ven were ahead of Jack and I, chattering about some stupid concept.

"God, Terra's being so grumpy lately!" Aqua complained.

"I know! And all you did was tell him that he looked creepy!" After this, Aqua and Ven looked back at me to see if I was listening. To make sure they had no satisfaction, I instantly turned to Jack and asked him about Halloween Town and himself.

He eagerly told me that he was the "pumpkin king"; a title he was dubbed for his scary appeal. When I asked him what being the pumpkin king meant, he gasped and told me that it was like what Santa Claus was to Christmas. A few more insults flew into my ears as Aqua and Ven kept talking about me. "Don't worry, Aqua. Terra is just a sour guy; don't take it too personally." He then added, "He just insults people because he's not happy with himself."

Now Ven had been definately become number two on my hate list, even being above Igneous.

"Yeah, you're right." Aqua smiled at Ven and hugged him tightly. Ven's white face became a scarlet red at this gesture and he looked away in delight and embarrassment.

I walked up to them and went in-between them after Aqua's hug. They both looked at me in confusion before I pushed them both away from each other; they ended up about ten feet away from me on both sides.

"What the hell was that for!?" Ven asked me in fury while running over to help Aqua up.

"Oh, I'm just a sour guy; don't take it too personally." I mocked the angry teens as Aqua opened her mouth to chastise me.

Before the blue-haired girl could walk over to get in my face about how impeccably rude I was, I leaped onto the top of the iron gate that loomed ahead of us.

"Come down here now!" Aqua pointed her finger to the space in front of her.

"I thought I was too creepy to walk in your presence..." I smiled in defiance and glee as Ven tried to climb up the sleek and dew-covered gate. He failed of course.

Finally, after many futile attempts to reach me, Ven used his gleaming scythe to latch on to the top of the iron and stood in front of me.

The blond teen had become cocky and was trying to show off to Aqua as he stood on one condensation covered onyx black shoe.

Instantly standing up to meet him, I flicked one long black claw on his forehead to unbalance him. It did the trick, for Ven was wobbling over the gate on his single foot. To make him become off guard, I caught his gloved hand and kept his feet attached to the black iron. Not for long though...

Afterwards, Ven mumbled a small "Thanks" and tried to push me off of the altitudinous gate. Before he could even touch me, I slid under his feet, turned around, and poked him in the back. This was followed by an "Ow!" and a loud thump. Ven lay on the dirt face down as Aqua rushed to his side to make sure he wasn't hurt. Ven's chalky white nose had started to bleed badly while the patchwork witch turned to chew me out.

"What is wrong with you!? You could have killed him!" She exaggerated sourly.

"I'm sorry, I'm just too grumpy and creepy to care." I shrugged to Aqua's dismay. "If you think you're going to get away with this, think again hairy!" After poking my chest in blame, I mentally chuckled to myself,

_Hairy? Is that the best insult she has? Does everyone I know have the cheesiest insults in existence? I mean-_

My silent complaining was interrupted by a strange yet familiar hissing noise. Circling us were about ten Unbirths; hissing and screeching at us. Eternal Horizons instantly popped out of nowhere along with it's neon particles dancing around it.

Ven had noticed the Unbirths dancing around the four of us in taunt, so he picked himself up and transformed his scythe into the golden black Keyblade named Divided Fate. All four of us had formed a defensive row; ready to spring at the Unbirths at any moment needed.

"Attack!" I instinctively battle cried, throwing us into the fray.

An unsuspecting Unbirth was turned into smoldering ashes as I swiped my Keyblade through it's silky flesh. It hissed and writhed while it's body was reduced into nothing. A triumphant grin was spread across my face as I slayed four more surprised Unbirths. The only person that was keeping up with my pace was Jack; while Aqua and Ven struggled to slay at least one. A look of frustration crept over Ven's face as an Unbirth tightened around his ankle. As he struggled to throw that Unbirth off, another two attached to his other leg. While he was intent on releasing their grip, yet another Unbirth came at him. The thing different about this one was that it thrashed it's barbed arms around his pale face. I knew what was going to happen, so I raced over to pull the Unbirths off of the teen whose arms were thrashing in confusion. Before I could reach him, about ten random Unbirths blocked the way. Seven of them wrapped themselves around various parts of my body while three of them flailed their arms around my head. Knowing that it was helpless, and remembering how painful it was going to be, I dropped to my knees to brace the pain. Even though the Unbirths blocked most of my vision, I could see that Jack and Aqua had pulled the Unbirths off of Ven before they could penetrate his skin. Unlucky for me, the three didn't see where I was because many more Unbirths surrounded them. I was left alone and helpless as I waited for the blood to spurt out of the many multiple cuts the hissing monsters had made.

Have you ever felt your legs become so weak that they just collapsed beneath you? I've had many dreams like that; I'll be running away from something and my legs will be coveted in this tingling feeling before I fall to the ground. That's the way my legs had felt at this very moment.

Time had seemed to slow as one of the gray monsters clapped his hands in glee, his sharp teeth reflected the cold moonlight that shone fiercely. Just as last time, I didn't feel any pain, I only watched as crimson liquid covered everything. Before I could even feel the pain, I blacked out as more Unbirths caught my arms and tightened themselves around them, making even more than fifteen Unbirths ganging up on me at one time.

"There's even more coming!" I heard Jack announce out loud in frustration; hearing this made me fall even more into hopelessness and despair as everything fizzled into forbidding darkness.


	17. Terra's Story:End of Book 1:Part 1

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep Zero-Terra's Story-Book 1, Chapter 16/End of Book 1, Part 1.

"Terra! Terra, are you okay?!" That was the first sentence I heard after blacking out from the Unbirth ambush in Halloween Town.

"Wha, grrr, ugh." I slurred from exhaustion, confusion, dizziness, and the sudden rush of unbearable pain.

"I think he's returning to consciousness!" Jack's excited voice made the pain even worse as my eyes tried desperately to focus on the blurry scene before me; Jack, Aqua, Ven, and this bald man in a wheelchair loomed over me with expressions of fear and concern.

"What happened to the Unbirths?" I ignored the pain and managed to slip the words past my lips.

"They disappeared right after you were ambushed."

"Are you okay?" Aqua's concern surprised me; only an hour ago, or so I thought, she was calling me "hairy", an insult that I thought was cheesy. You agree with me, right?

Before I grimaced at her I glanced at the bandages covering about three-fourths of my body, "Do I look like I'm okay?"

Aqua looked taken aback at my snappish attitude and rolled her blue eyes at me. Ven poked me a few times on my forehead, "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Stop poking me." I shoved Ven's onyx gloved finger away before I started poking his head in mockery, "Are you okay, are you okay?"

"Shut up." Ven playfully punched me in the shoulder lightly.

"Wow, I thought you were dead there for a few moments; you were out cold like a monkey who had run out of bananas." Ven waved his arms up to exaggerate.

"Yeah, because you would've been the one who ate them all." Aqua interrupted.

"You're not a normal werewolf, are you?" the handicapped man tugged my pointy ears while analyzing my eyelids and snapping them back in place.

"No intent on killing anyone, no random hunger for raw meat; you don't even turn back into a human, do you?"

"Jack! Jack! There are monsters in the town square! And a creepy old man is with them!" A disembodied voice echoed from the cracked door.

"Creepy old man?" We all knew(not counting the handicap and the Pumpkin King) that the creepy old geezer had to be either Xehanort or Master Oni. And telling from the fact that the voice sounded really frightened, it must have been Geezernort. Jack, Aqua, Ven, and I instantly leaped out the door to face the oncoming monsters, but before I could even go down one of the steps, Aqua turned around and poked in the chest, "Where do you think you're going? You're too injured to fight." Before I could reply, she had already reached the bottom of the steps and was summoning her Keyblade.

"She's right, you know." An elderly voice echoed from behind me. Turning around meet it, I had become face to face with an old man with amber eyes.

"Hello, your geezership." I greeted him with my eyes slanted and my mouth formed into a grin.

"Still as foolish as ever, I see." He rubbed his silver goatee and sighed, "If only you were a tad bit smarter. Not that you had common sense in the first place, but oh well."

"What are you doing here, anyways?" My curiosity had swept the thought of people on my "hate list" away.

"Oh, my brother ordered me to check up on you. Too bad the old coot couldn't do it himself, the lazy little cockroach." His gloved hand was balled into a clenched fist while Igneous, my arch enemy number two and number two on my hate list, peeked his head out from a iron gate that loomed through the fog.

"Come out, Igneous." Master Xehanort ordered without even glancing at the oncoming teen that crept behind him. It was like he had eyes on the back of his head, or something like that.

_It wouldn't surprise me._ I chuckled silently.

Igneous's appearance had changed to fit his surroundings as well, something that Xehanort had either failed to do, or was avoiding it. Anyways, Igneous had the same exo-skeleton suit except the fact that it really did have a skeleton on the outside.

"That's just little cheesy, don't you think?" I raised my eyebrow at him while remembering that I had a skeleton costume like that when I was four.

"Yeah, well at least I don't look like a forty-year-old monkey."

"I'm a werewolf. Werewolf, not monkey. Not a monkey, a werewolf, you idiot." Man, insulting him made me feel so glad to be me. You know when you're a little kid? And your mother gives you a cookie and you get that warm feeling inside? Yeah, that's what it felt like insulting him.

_Wow, that sounded creepier than I thought it would've. _I recalled my previous statement.

"Same thing."

"Sure, we'll go with that." I chuckled at his stupidity.

"Hello! We're getting our asses kicked here!" Ven's voice was muffled by the heap of Unbirths as his raised hand slowly sunk into a pile of screeching Unbirths.

"Oops, sorry. Must've slipped my mind!" Igneous bellowed afterwards in apparent sarcasm.

Before he even went down two steps, I literally kicked butt and he went flying down the stairs while squealing his carrot topped head off.

"Oops, sorry! Must've slipped my foot!" I called out to him with my hands cupped around my mouth. While Igneous was still recovering from his "accidental" fall, a horde of gray monsters gleefully hissed and jumped on him before he could retaliate.

"Stupid..." The rest I couldn't hear as he too was engulfed by a heap of Unbirths.

"That wasn't very nice, cockroach. You should have let him really have it."

"Since when have you been hostile towards your own primitive kind, Geezernort?"

"Why don't you ask yourself that question? I mean, you _are_ just standing there while your, what do you call it?" The elder paused to summon the word he hadn't used for so long out of his large span of memories.

"Ah, yes, 'friends'. That was the word; I haven't had to use that one in eons."

"You don't have to tell me twice." Suddenly, the Unbirths had disappeared once again, eventually leaving the three teens and Jack gasping for breath. Puddles of scarlet were littered across the area and were reflecting the cold moonlight.

"Do you have any potions, Terra? I used all of mine in the battle." Ven had hunched himself over as he trekked up the steps with his gloved hand lurching out towards me.

"Yeah, and this one is special." I popped the top off of the minty-chocolate potion that I had received from the voice in my dream.

"What? Is it supposed to taste like fruit punch, or something? Man, fruit punch sounds really wonderful right now." He longingly sighed as a faint breeze rustled his hair.

Chugging the potion relentlessly made Ven instantly gag on the concoction. "What is this crap?" He ungratefully threw the potion at me. Luckily, I caught it without spilling a drop.

"All I know is that brave heroes of the Keyblade aren't supposed to have bad breath."

"Well then, I guess I fail the test because I don't think I could ever drink something that horrible ever again." He shuddered to make it look even more horrid than it was.

"Well drink it anyway. That's the only potion we have and we can't have you bleeding over everything." Aqua grabbed the bottle of liquid and almost shoved it down Ven's throat. The teen struggled and tried to talk through the gushes of potion contradictorily. Some of the words I heard were no, grrrr, let, stop, and hate, so I knew that he wasn't exactly enjoying it even if Aqua was the one shoving it into his mouth.

Only when every single drop of the potion had been forced down the boy's throat Aqua had let him knock it away.

"God, Aqua, I thought you were going to shove the bottle through my neck." The droplets of green were swept away by Ven's glove.

"Sorry." She apologized with no emotion at all.

"Well, since you've had your...'fun' time here in this world, it is time that we head back to the castle." Xehanort shivered at the word "fun".

"How do we even-" Before Ven could finish his question, Xehanort swooshed his gloved hand into an empty space and summoned a portal of forbidding darkness. Everyone was hesitant except Jack, who almost dove into the portal but was caught by Xehanort's fast reflexes.

"Where do you think you're going, little cockroach?" The old man now held on to the skeleton's foot with increasing pressure.

"Well, I've always wanted to visit a castle, so-" Jack was interrupted abruptly.

"Too bad." Xehanort tossed the skeleton away without even giving any effort.

"Get in before I turn you into a cockroach!" Master Xehanort shoved Ven and Aqua into the dark portal without even touching them.

_Okay, note that: Number One on Hate List is now officially obsessed with cockroaches._

"You too!" I was swept into the portal without even being touched as well.

"Ugh." Ven gurgled aloud once we arrived at our location.

"I hate traveling in portals." He complained.

"You are back." Master Oni announced to himself out loud.

"How was it traveling to your first world?"


	18. Terra's Story:Beginning of Book 1:Part 2

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep Zero-Terra's Story-Book 1, Chapter 17/Start of Book 1, Part 2

Note:I am still and will always be open to ideas for worlds, summons, and appearances for each world that requires it until the end of book 1(which will roughly be about thirteen chapters) Either E-mail me your ideas or submit them in a review) Anyways, please continue to read and support BBS Zero! Your reviews and your time are much appreciated! ALSO: Thanks and awesomeness goes to namixaskhfan for reviewing!!

Thank you, Eternal Symphonia.

It had been exactly a year since the day Ven, Aqua, and I traveled to Halloween Town. We had trained under Master Oni since then, and our ability to wield the Keyblade had increased drastically. Now we knew much more about the Keyblade and what we could do with it, and that there was much more to being a Keyblade wielder than just thrashing around your weapon and a courageous attitude. Being trained under the Keyblade Master of Light, we had to create a covenant that promised that we wouldn't turn to the Darkness, no matter how tempting it was; actually, I thought it was the cheesiest thing since Geezernort, but I agreed to the promise anyway. And, we were also told the prophecies of the future and the past, and the poem of Destiny: The prophecies told of two Keyblade Masters; one would bring peace and prosperity, while the other told of him bringing chaos and ruin upon the universe.

The poem was much different, though. It was called _Death by Awakening, Birth by Sleep_

_Death by Awakening__, Birth by Sleep_

_Waiting, waiting, waiting._

_Waiting for inevitable fate, depressing me of happiness at every turn I took._

_I knew what would happen; I knew that ever since I risked it._

_What did I risk, you ask?_

_I know, and I don't know; that is the real question._

_Questions? What are questions?_

_Are they searches for truth? Or are they ways to clog your heart and spirit with fake truth?_

_Both, probably._

_Everywhere I turned, I was there, and I wasn't._

_Yes? Or no?_

_My inability to see what was coming sealed my fate._

_Destiny? Or Fate?_

_What is the difference?_

_I looked ahead too late._

_The wind howls, mourning over the future it sees._

_My Future, My End._

_Your Past, Your Beginning._

_Beginning? Or End?_

_Your End is Awakening, Your Beginning is Death._

_My End is Sleep, My Beginning is Birth_

_Two very similar things if switched around:_

_Death by Awakening, Sleep by Birth_

_Birth is your Awakening, Death is my Sleep_

_Awakening is your Birth, Sleep is my Death._

_Your Awakening is my Death, And Your Birth is my Sleep_

_Death by Awakening, Birth by Sleep_

No one is sure of who made the poem or the prophecies. Some very odd people(who many thought were crazy) said that the poem was created by the tale of the Earth, Water and Wind. Others agreed with them and said that the poem would be repeated by the tale of the Land, Sea, and Sky. Once again, many thought that they were delirious and a bunch of kooks obsessed over nothing, but some still believed in them; like Master Oni for example. In my opinion, I thought that it was also a prophecy, but in poem form. But that's just my opinion; that and no one could be sure exactly what it meant by the fact that it uses the words Birth, Sleep, Awakening, and Death constantly and makes it extremely confusing. But then again, nothing that important is easy to understand until it's too late, sadly.

Now we shall explore where everything _really _began. And I mean everything from the time of the fateful day when we were sent out to find Master Xehanort(whom I prefer to call Geezernort)when he went missing to the time of when Ansem the Wise found a young man at his doorstep. Yes, I seem to remember that everything that had happened began with Birth by Sleep, and shall end with Awakening by Death.

Now, back to the fateful day:

Morning was peeping through the window next to my red and gold color-schemed bed to awake me for yet another day of training. This time, though, I wasn't all that reluctant to get dressed and rush out to Master Oni's blue and gold embroidered study because if I made it through this day of training, I would finish everything I needed to know. I would still have to be an apprentice and train once in a while, but not every single day like before. Sadly, since Ven struggled to pay attention to anything he was taught, he wasn't going to exactly "graduate" so to speak, but was still going to train along with Aqua and I. I think Master Oni knew that Ven would train even worse if we weren't there.

Anyways, I arrived at my destination and waited around for Aqua and Ven, who on routine, decided not to roll out of bed and go, and not to roll out of bed at all, like they did on our very first day.

"I'll go get Ven." I sighed as I turned around to head for the teen's dorm.

"You're late, Ven." Grabbing his wrist with the superhuman strength I had accumulated in the past year, I tossed him out of bed and across the room with ease.

Ven, with the superhuman speed he had obtained, got dressed within two seconds and stood in front of me with a light grin.

"Okay, I'm ready." He had already reached the door without even taking a step. Well, at least I didn't see it.

"You're getting weirder by the day, Ven." I nudged his shoulder lightly as we walked to the study.

"I'm the weird one? At least I don't float around like a cloud." Just as he insulted the blue-haired girl, Aqua came up behind him, and started to on cue, float and plucked him up by the scruff of his jacket and floated so far up that the ground was ten feet away from his shoes.

"At least I don't run around like no tomorrow." She teased as Ven struggled and fought to get his feet back on solid ground.

_This is the way it should be._ I thought with a jolt of happiness. _Even if we are a bunch of superhuman freaks that argue over whose creepier; the one who could lift five people at the same time, the one who could run to Destiny Islands and back within a minute, or the one who wafts around like a clump of cottonwood seeds._

"Ven, Aqua, you are late for the fifth time this week." Master Oni pounded his fist on the wooden desk.

"We're sorry." They bowed their heads in apology.

"Sorry isn't good enough. As I told you before, I can stand it if you're late a few times the first week, maybe even once the second week. But a year into your training?" He shook his bald head.

Suddenly, a shrill voice came over the loudspeaker, "All residents of the castle must immediately report to the gardens in front of the building. Reasons are not specified."

"What do they want now? I hope this isn't another one of Xehanort's jokes."

When we arrived at the gardens as we were instructed, we noticed that many other apprentices were scattered everywhere, all fretting about the current news.

After about twenty minutes a speaker at the front of the crowd raised his voice in urgency and a tone of fear, "Apprentices, Masters, Workers, and others, we are gathered here to talk about a crisis we are having. And yes, this isn't one of Master Xehanort's jokes." He added to everyone's relief.

"Master Xehanort has gone missing." The speaker managed to get the news past his lips.

"Did Geezernort finally kick the bucket?" I soon found out that Master Oni took this news very seriously, for he slapped me on the back of my head. "Be quiet."

"Now, we know that this is very urgent news, and the fact that if he's gone, the universe will be unbalanced because it needs both the Masters of Light and Darkness, and he is absent. This is sure to bring chaos and disaster to the entire universe. The only problem is," He paused to swallow the chunk of fear within his throat.. "The only problem is that we are not sure if he and his apprentice shall return, and if he isn't going to, then we need to know who we should send out to find him."

"I'll go." Ven whispered to me.

"You'll do no such thing. Compared to all the other wielders here, you're not even out of diapers." Master Oni had gotten into Ven's face and pretty much scared the crap out of him.

"Who will go then?" Aqua asked the elder.

"How am I supposed to know?"

"Now, we have already chosen ten of our elite to go-" He paused to nod at the ten people in armor standing valiantly next to him.

"so do not worry about having to go across the entire universe on a perilous and dangerous mission while fighting off many vicious Unbirths and monsters along the way and facing the possibility that you will either die for nothing, or turn into a Unbirth yourself." His last comment made some of the elite clench their hands into tense fists at the task ahead. If I were one of them, I would've peed my pants by now, but hey, it wasn't my job to save the universe, so I wasn't going to worry about it.

"Very well, then. Go off and find Master Xehanort and his cohort. If you all fail, then we will have to send some other poor soul to your job for you. Goodbye, now." He shooed the reluctant soldiers into a portal of light.

"He handled that beautifully." Master Oni sarcastically remarked. "Now, back to your training." Master Oni shoved us into the castle without the slightest effort. We all walked back to the main hall of our dorms and Master Oni's office in complete and utter silence. Finally, Ven broke the silence by complaining about how he wasn't going along to look for Master Xehanort. "Why do I have to stay here while I could be having fun somewhere else on some other world!?"

"Because I said so, that's why." Master Oni dragged Ven by his foot all the way back to the study. I would've thought that Aqua would have protested that ALL of the people in the castle should have gone out to find Master Xehanort, but she didn't dare interrupt when Master Oni was in such a horrible mood.

"What are we going to learn today?" Aqua changed the subject abruptly. We had already finished all of our normal classwork(yes, even Ven did), and we were primarily focusing on subjects surrounding the Keyblade for over half of each day.

"What do you want to learn about? Battle techniques? Spells? Advanced abilities? Anything you three agree on, I guess."

"Yes!" Ven yelled in excitement before he stopped to ponder what he wanted to do that day.

"Can we learn about creating portals?" Ven had once again brought up the subject of traveling to other worlds.

"If you think I'm foolish enough to teach you that, then you should consider getting your common sense rearranged." Master Oni answered much to Ven's dismay.

"But everything else is boring!" We could all tell that Ven's common childish attitude was coming to surface by the way he started mumbling and pouting to himself.

We had finally arrived once again at the starry blue and gold study and sat down in the three chairs surrounding our Master's desk.

"So, what do you request that we learn today?" He glanced at Ven and added, "And we're not going to learn anything on teleportation."

"Stupid..." I didn't hear the rest because Ven instantly stopped when he saw Master Oni's silver eyebrow twitching with annoyance.

"Stupid? Are you calling me stupid?"

"Maybe." Ven defiantly answered as he slunk down in his chair.

"Do you dare call me stupid? Do you!?" The elder's eyes were now blazing like a surging blizzard.

"Maybe." Ven repeated while impossibly slinking lower; his head almost reached the seat of his chair.

"I've had about enough of you!" The old man rose from his desk chair with furious speed and reflex that contradicted his age.

"Uh-oh." Ven instantly got up and ran away with his tail in between his legs in fear of getting his rear handed to him. As expected, Master Oni got to the door in a pace that was fast enough to make anyone dizzy and stood with his arms crossed as Ven crashed into him.

"Let me go!" The blond teen yelped as the elder harshly picked him up by his spiky hair.

"Why should I? You little monkey, why should I?" The old man's silver eyes glowed as he bore them into Ven's soul.

"Because you're nice? And you think I'm the best apprentice you have?" Ven shrugged.

"The best? You're one of the worst! I've never seen anyone dare insult me and call me stupid when they themselves are as intelligent as a lump of coal." Ven glued his blue stare onto his shoes in shame and embarrassment.

"Don' t think that pretending you care will make me feel guilty, because it won't. Now, all I need is to know what you three want to learn. And I don't want to hear another word out of you unless I command you to speak!" He dropped Ven back into his chair and settled himself down into his own.

"Have I made myself clear!?" Master Oni pounded his fist once again on his desk and stared at the teen expectantly.

"Yeah." Ven mumbled and kept his stare to his feet.

"Good. Now, what am I going to teach you today?" The elder asked while hoping it would be the last time he had to.

No one suggested anything.

Aqua then broke the painful silence by clearing her throat, "Why do you even need to train other people to use the Keyblade?"

Master Oni sat in silence with his forefinger and thumb on his chin and pretty much dodged the question, "It depends on what Keyblade Master you are speaking about. And besides, where do you even come up with such questions?"

"I was asking about why you have to teach us." Aqua pestered.

"Do you really wish to know?" He sighed at Aqua's stubbornness; she knew that he was trying to avoid answering her question, yet she still picked at it.

"Very well then. The reason why I have to train you three is because, well, there may even be hundreds of reasons, depending on who you are talking to, but you asked me, so yes, I shall tell you my view upon it."

"Well for a start, I need to teach you three and choose one of you as my successor. Second of all, I need to train you because it is our duty to keep the universe balanced with powerful beings, that would be Keyblade Wielders, on both of the sides of Light and Darkness; if we fail to keep it balanced and do not restore it quickly, then the universe will unbalance and turn into a giant slab of nothing. Without Light, there would be no Darkness, and with no Darkness, there would be no Light. It would turn into nothing because without Darkness, it wouldn't be known as Light, and Darkness wouldn't be known as Darkness without Light to balance it. That was the reason why everyone was so worried about Master Xehanort's disappearance; it would unbalance everything and also is the reason why we sent others to search for him, especially when he is the embodiment of Darkness itself, just as I am of the Light. Now, my third reason would be that all of the powerful spirits and hearts, such as yourselves, would not be taken in by too much darkness and become an incredible addition to the Unbirths' ranks, thus making sure you have a way from protecting yourself from becoming as such. One that you already know is that we must teach you to lessen the Unbirth's ranks. Also to make sure that I am training you so you give peace to the Universe and make sure that your successors do the same. Now the next reason is to give Kingdom Hearts, no matter which one, beings that can protect it; now, wielders of the Heart protect the Kingdom Hearts of all Worlds and the Kingdom Hearts of all men. Wielders of the Spirit, like us, train to protect the Kingdom Hearts of all Souls, and the most important one; the Kingdom Hearts of all Keyblades. One thing you should _never_forget is that if you don't do your duties as a Keyblade Wielder, or you fail at important missions, or the worst one of all would be that you fail to fulfill your Destiny, you would screw up the destiny cycle, thus creating chaos to the Universe because all of the Keyblade Wielders' would be unbalanced and might even disappear, an event that evil-doers might use to their advantage." He finished his long paragraph and looked at the stunned and overwhelmed-with-too-much-information teens, Aqua, Ven, and I expectantly.

Most of the reasons were...reasonable, but the one that worried me the most, and I almost knew that it did the same for Ven and Aqua, was that we had incredible pressure upon us; if we failed at any important mission, or even worse, as Master Oni told us, was to not do what we weren't meant to do in our lifetime, we would possibly kill hundreds of Keyblade Wielders and destroy the Universe, just by making one simple mistake that led us off of our life paths. Now I take my earlier statement back; if I were one of those elite right now, I wouldn't have peed my pants, I would have crapped my ass off in them.

"Now then, that is why I specifically told you that we must not use the powers of Darkness, for if you do, you will be risking your life, others' lives, the Universe's life, and even your own sanity." His white eyes were glazed with sadness as he recalled one of his deepest and darkest memories, as if he knew that it had happened before, or maybe that he suspected it would happen again in the future.

_Who knows what lies behind those pools of glowing snow?_I thought while longing for an answer that would never come to surface. Then again, how could I say that? No one knows whether or not something will happen in the near yet distant future, well, maybe Master Oni did.

"You see now why I didn't want to tell you? Now you think that being perfect is the way to fulfill your Destinies; it is not. If you, let's say, somehow accidentally become overpowered by darkness, or are forced to." He looked at me with sorrow in his eyes. "Even if you are breaking the code, you shouldn't worry about it unless you are deliberately doing it. Then if you are, I'd have to converse with you strictly and maybe even ban you from being an apprentice." All three of us nodded and accepted our consequences.

"Now, I'd rather jump off of this topic and get onto your training. For the last and final time, what do you request that we learn today?"

"How about cooking?" Aqua randomly yelped out her suggestion.

"Cooking?" Ven and I asked in unison and confusion.

"Cooking?" Master Oni repeated.

"Yeah, I didn't get a chance to eat breakfast!" She smiled with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.

"Well, I'll tell you right now; I suck at cooking, so if you want to learn I suggest you ask Master Hikari." Master Oni admitted.

"Well, how about health?" Her mischievous glint turned into an malignant one as she watched Ven twitch with horror.

"Oh please! Not health class again!" He shuddered with fear.

"That sounds like a great idea!" Master Oni clasped his hands together and stood up with a joyful grin on his wrinkly face.

"No!" Ven's legs gave way and he fell to the floor in horror.

"Please not that."

"Well, Ven, I seem to remember that a certain someone decided to insult me today, so you must know that I'm not all that content with doing whatever he wants to do. Anyways, I hear that you just 'shiver' with excitement about the reproduction system."

"No! You wouldn't!" Ven slanted his eyes in suspicion.

"Now, Ven, do you know what we call the female organ of the reproductive system?"

"Noooooooooooooo!!" Ven yelped to the skies above in horror.

"It is called the va-" Master Oni was for once excited that he was interrupted by one of Ven's outbursts.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!" Ven clasped his head tightly in his pale hands and screamed his contradiction so loudly that he couldn't hear the rest of the word that he despised. So, Master Oni said it again, and again, and again many times over, making sure that Ven heard it all by forcing the pressure off of his temples and taking his hands away.

Once Master Oni was done after about ten minutes of yelling disturbing words into Ven's uncovered ears, he finally let go of the teen's hands and watched gleefully as Ven rocked on his butt while hugging his knees with a death grip.

"It burns..." Ven shut his cerulean eyes tightly and shook even harder.

"Now then, what shall we really learn today? You haven't given a suggestion yet, Terra." His eyes were fixed on me expectantly.

"I dunno." I shrugged.

"Well, then I get to choose; we shall learn some new spells; advanced versions of the ones you already know, of course."

"Yes! I'm good at those." Aqua clapped her hands excitedly.

"We shall proceed to the training room then. Terra, will you help Ven make his way down there with us?" He pointed to the blond teen who was knocked out cold.

"Yeah." I wrapped my right arm around Ven's waist and slung him over my shoulder.

"Bleh." Ven gurgled in a gutteral tone while in some unconscious state of mind; probably dreaming about pancakes, or some other kind of food he was choking down his throat.

Master Oni summoned the training room by a wave of his hand, thus creating a large doorway that replaced the one that was the entrance to his study. If you peeked through the doorway, you could just see a sliver of the mosaic steps that led to the stained glass platform. Does this sound familiar? Yes, our training room was shaped exactly like the platforms of glass that littered our "awakening" dreams, as Master Oni called them. Though, there were seven different ones, all holding one of pure heart. I didn't know what Master Oni meant by it, but he mumbled something about Kingdom Hearts afterwards.

"Okay, try to attack me with a blizzard spell." Master Oni commanded at me while Aqua tried to coax Ven out of his dormant stage of mind.

--

One week later...

The announcement speaker box rang through our ears, "WARNING, ALL RESIDENTS MUST IMMEDIATELY STOP THEIR ACTIVITIES AT THIS TIME TO RECEIVE THIS URGENT ANNOUNCEMENT." We could hear the microphone shaking violently as the frightened speaker yelped in fear, "The elite have been wiped out. I repeat:The elite have been wiped out!"

Oh no! A cliffhanger, DUN DUN DUN!!


	19. Terra's Story:Book 1:Chapter 19

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep Zero-Book 1, Part 2-Terra's Story, Chapter 19:

NOTE: Thanks once again to my loyal reviewer, namixasvenkhfan(namixaskhfan), and I hope you guys have a Happy Halloween! Oh yes, and I have decided: since one of my loyal reviewer's(namixasvenkhfan) favorite characters is Ven, I am going to write Ven's story after I have finished all three books of Terra's story. Thanks again for reading (and reviewing) my story, and I hope to update twice before the weekend ends, so please expect chapter 20 of Book 1 to up probably on Sunday.

Thanks for your patience and awesomeness,

Eternal Symphonia.

"Now then, " The announcer cleared his throat loudly in order to gain the group of fretting peoples' attention.

"As you all know, we have yet to solve the current crisis at hand. As you were told before, something or someone has defeated the elite. We have discussed about what we are going to do, and we've come to a conclusion: anyone who is willing to go out on the treacherous journey in order to find Master Xehanort may dare to, but if no one offers, then we will have to all die violently because you all were too selfish."

Ven instantly raised his hand much to Master Oni's dismay, "I'll go!" Everyone gasped at the fact that such an inexperienced apprentice would even think about offering to go, but before Master Oni could chastise him again, the announcer jumped for joy on the temporary stage, "Very well, then! Now, is anyone else willing?"

"Ven!" Master Oni held him up by the scruff of his undershirt.

"What!? He said if anyone is willing-"

"No! Take your offer back right now! You don't even know how to get to other worlds!" He shook the teen violently.

"Well, if you had just taught us how to teleport, maybe I would know how to get to another world." Ven remarked.

"You little..." The elder was interrupted by the announcer, "Well, it looks like the only person who is going is Ventus Toshi."

"Damn it, Ven! Now I have to go along with you so you don't get yourself killed." I chastised the blond who was innocently smiling.

"Yeah, what were you thinking?" Aqua added with her hands on her hips.

"Well, no one else was going to do it...."

"Yes, but that's because they actually have common sense. Don't you even know what you are getting yourself into? You could be killed!" I yelled at Ventus. He then stared at his feet for a while and then mumbled quietly, "But if I don't, I won't have a chance to-"

"To what!?" Aqua harshly got into the teen's face and shook him by his shoulders.

"To even think about getting my memories back! You don't know what it's like living day after day and knowing at the same time that you could have been someone who actually mattered before you lost your memory. I don't even know who I am, or who I was, or even who I'm supposed to be; did you ever even think about how I feel sometimes?" Ven's anger had only rarely burst, and when it did you knew that you should probably back off.

"You are worth something, Ven; that's why we don't want you to get hurt." Aqua softly tried to reassure the emotional teen who was now trying extremely hard to hold back tears.

Ven shoved her hand off of his shoulder, "I don't need sympathy, Aqua. What I need is truth. And if I never get out there, then I'll never get my memory back; sitting here and doing nothing doesn't get me any closer to reaching that goal before it's too late." He now turned to face the setting sun and stared into it with an unreadable and emotionless face. The only thing that assured you that he still had feelings running through his heart was the tear that ran down his cheek.

Aqua looked at me, and then back at Ven with sorrow in her blue eyes.

"I'll go!" I suddenly interrupted the silence with a yelp. I hoped that Ven would have appreciated that he wasn't alone, and knowing him was what made me sure that he certainly did.

"I'll go, too!" Aqua piped in. Master Oni stared at us with an aghast look on his face.

"How could you three possibly think that you can stand up against things that even beyond your own understanding?"

"I dunno." I answered.

"You 'dunno'? You 'dunno'? Is that really your answer, you fool?"

"I dunno." I repeated without emotion; I was too busy thinking about what it would be like with no memory at all; I didn't even think for a second before of how Ven might of felt. To have his memories stolen away from him must have been confusing and traumatizing.

"You are the most irresponsible, foolish, imbecilic buffoons I have ever met!" Master Oni thrust his arms down to his sides in impatience and anger.

We completely ignored him.

"Fine then, until you decide to gain at least an ounce of intelligence and get your immature heads out of your rears, do not dare speak to me!" Ticked off and steaming, the elder decided that he'd rather get away to cool off than to go completely insane and berserk at his apprentices' foolishness.

We were left alone as people poured out of the courtyard in order to get back to their work, so that left Ven, Aqua, and I alone to talk in private.

"Ven?" My question jerked the boy's suddenly darkened cerulean eyes towards my voice.

"What did you mean, 'before it's too late'.?" The blond looked away from me before I could even finish my question.

"I.... It doesn't matter." He answered with a monochromatic tone.

_Is he hiding something? _I asked myself with suspicion. Ven usually would tell us if there was anything bothering him, so it seemed highly unlikely. But then again, Ven was a horrible liar; you could always tell by the way he wouldn't even glance at you when he gave you an answer. And judging by the way he didn't even say his statement loudly or in a clear voice made me start to wonder.

"Well, we better get prepared for our journey, anyways." Aqua's sensible head had jerked us away from the eerie silence.

"Yeah. I wonder how many worlds we'll visit." I pondered before Ven answered the question that wasn't supposed to be answered, "As many as it takes." He mumbled without specifying what exactly we were waiting for. Well, what Ven was waiting for, anyways.

Ventus walked slowly away and left Aqua and I stuck in the clearing to talk amongst ourselves.

"So, did you really want to go, or did your concern for Ven make you decide?" Aqua's blue eyes twinkled as if she already knew the answer.

"What about you?" I shot the question back.

"Same as you, I'm sure."

"Do think Ven knows something about the future?" I knew that the question sounded really weird and cheesy, but I was almost dying to know if Aqua had any ideas about it, since she always was the one who was right about everything.

"Who knows? Maybe he just remembered something about his past. Or maybe it was just a little inkling he got from thinking too much."

"Does Ven ever think too much?" I questioned in sarcasm.

"You know what I mean!" She slugged me in the shoulder lightly before running off to the main doors of the castle.

"Well then, I guess our journey begins tomorrow." I sighed to myself before the sunset pointed to the current time.

"I just hope we'll return safely."

Chapter 19, Part 2: The morning of Destiny~

Bright light and eerie darkness awoke me. The scenery around me was very, no wait, extremely familiar as I looked around the pure green mural that resembled the training room back in the castle. Actually, the training room back in the castle was the one that resembled the pure green mural.

"_Welcome back, Nicholas." _The voice that led me in my awakening dream echoed around the space of nothingness.

"Hello, Mister Beans." I greeted with sarcasm.

"So, what do you want with me now?"

"_Well, I just led you here to tell you a little secret of mine before you depart on your path."_ He announced in a gleeful manner while reverberating claps followed.

"_You will wait, wait, and wait endlessly. Inevitable Destiny awaits you my friend, no matter what turn you take. It will depress you of your happiness, but will gain you unlimited power in return." _His words were cryptic and somewhat...scary. At first I thought it was just some dumb riddle he was using to confuse me, but....

"_Oh now, don't be confused little man; I'm just trying to warn you." _

"Warn me? Of what?" I instantly tried to connect things together; Ven, these cryptic words, and something else I could not quite put my finger on.

"_You'll see. Now go off and have fun with your friends before-" _I interrupted him suddenly as I reconciled that Ven had also said "before it's too late".

"_Now see? You shouldn't have interrupted me before I could finish. Oh well, you'll figure it out on your own soon anyways....."_

"No, please don't go." I begged the disembodied voice with desperation.

"_Goodbye, Terra. I'll talk to you soon." _His voice faded out before I awoke to yet again a bright morning sun peeping at me through the glass window next to my bed.

"Terra! Terra! It's time to wake up, you lazy little-." I became wide awake as Aqua's face loomed over mine with a scowl.

"Whoa! How'd you even get in here!?" I instantly pulled the covers of my bed under my chin so as not to let Aqua see that I had not bothered to get into my bedclothes before throwing my normal ones onto the ground the night before.

"I have skills. Now, get your clothes and get ready! We're going to be late for the journey!" Usually I would have thought Aqua was just fretting about our task ahead, but she was even worse than I had ever seen her; first of all, she tumbled through the closet and threw my clothes at me, and then she went into the bathroom and thrust my toothbrush and deodorant at me without mercy.

"God, what is up with you?" I demanded explanation.

"And why are you going through my stuff?" I leaped out of my bed and instantly took my boxers out of her hands.

"Well, I was just making sure that all of your underwear was clean so I could make sure that you would actually bring clean ones along. Unlike that time-"

"Yeah, I appreciate that except for the fact that you were sniffing it." I grabbed another of my underwear as she started to sniff the inside.

"Jeez, I was just making sure that it was clean. You don't have to get all pissy now, Terra." She chastised.

"No, that isn't okay with me; you would know if it was clean or not if you noticed that those boxers you picked up were from the neat pile and not the messy ones over there that are turned inside out." I pointed to the heap of boxers in the right corner of my room.

"So, here's the lessons that you've learned today: don't stare at me while I'm sleeping, don't touch my stuff, and don't sniff my underwear. I don't care how nervous you are, just let me do it myself okay?" I shoved her out of the window that luckily for her was only two feet above the ground.

"Ow, what was that for?" Her question was muffled as I shut the window and pulled the golden-trimmed scarlet curtains together.

"Will I really need to drag a suitcase around with me?" I obliged to the unanswered question and ignored Aqua's insistence that I pack my belongings.

"I don't know what insane ideas you have in your heads, but I know that going on this journey is going to make you regret them." Master Oni persisted on persuading to make us stay, but he failed, of course.

"Yeah, we are pretty insane." Aqua agreed with a mumble.

"Well, at least I know one of you has a mind to speak of." The elder admitted.

Ven was the last one to enter the study. The same as the previous night, his normal goofy grin was replaced by a solemn, melancholy, and blank expression.

"Are you okay?" Aqua poked Ven's suddenly pale arm in concern.

"Yeah." He mumbled quietly.

"Now, then. I guess I will have to teach you how to teleport." Master Oni sighed and rolled his snowy eyes as he rose from his chair.

"I guess you will." Ven shot back without any apparent reason. His uncommon attitude seemed to be getting even worse as the minutes rolled on. He even scowled when I couldn't get the trick of summoning portals just because he got it on the first try.

"What is your problem?" I finally asked the attitude driven teen in frustration.

"Aqua and I have been sitting here for an hour while you try to create a portal. If you didn't know, it's one of the most boring things in the universe to watch an idiot try to do one of the easiest things ever done."

"Did you just call me an idiot?" I asked once Ven was done mouthing off to me.

"What's wrong with calling a gorilla an idiot?" He questioned nonchalantly.

"You know what? I don't know what stick you have up your butt, but if you want to keep that ugly head of yours, I suggest you stop before I beat the crap out of you." I threatened before turning around to continue to practicing.

A rush of pain hit the back of my leg. I turned around instantly to see Ven smiling evilly with his Keyblade in hand. A few red drops splattered on the floor from the tip.

Ventus had cut the back of my knee with _Divided Fate._

"You little..." _Eternal Horizons _was summoned without any effort at all; an ability I had been able to acquire within the past year.

"So, you want to fight?" Usually Master Oni would have stepped in to stop our upcoming battle, but this time he just stood back and watched with a solid stature.

Ven made the first move by rushing towards me with speed that matched the agility of a hurricane. I knew that he was going to aim for a harmless spot, like my arm or leg, but it was impossible to tell due to how he held his Keyblade. I did the thing I was best at: defense.

Luck was mine as Ven's Keyblade struck my own harshly, but failed to create a scratch or bruise anywhere on my body. And another lucky thing that was on my side was the fact that I still had two potions and ethers from yesterday's offensive attacks training stuck in my pockets.

"Lucky block." Ven mumbled in refusal to believe that I could possibly beat him.

"Or was it a crappy strike?" I shot back.

Drops of blood scattered everywhere as Ven and I managed to cut eachother every few seconds. I noticed that I was winning by the fact that the blond teen was growing increasingly tired and that he had at least twenty more cuts than I did.

"Stupid...gorilla." Ven managed to utter before he finally keeled over and fainted from the loss of blood.

"Who's the boring one now?" I asked while disappointedly knowing that Ventus could not hear me.

"Now then, since you've stopped dawdling, I suggest you get back to the topic of summoning portals." Master Oni commanded.

After about another ten minutes, I had finally summoned a successful portal that led to hell knows where.

"Good job, Terra." Master Oni complemented.

"Now, once your friend wakes up, you shall set off on your journey." After the elder had given his announcement, Ven had begun to stir.


	20. Terra's Story:Book 1:Chapter 20

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep~Book 1, Part 2:Terra's Story:Chapter 20:

DISCLAIMER:Beauty and the Beast belongs to Disney, KH characters belong to Nomura's awesome mind.

Ven had finally stirred after about five minutes of unconsciousness.

"What?" The teen's eyes flickered open for a moment before they fell closed once again.

"Now that you are done napping, it is time for you three to set off on your journey." The old man announced as he tightened his trademark white gloves around his wrists.

"Finally!" Ven jumped for joy at the thought of beginning his long-awaited journey. Ventus was somehow back to his normal attitude; a goofy smirk, shining blue eyes, and a happy-go-lucky personality, which contradicted his previous behavior towards me.

"Why are you nice all of the sudden?" I asked him in perplexity.

"What do you mean?" Ven scratched the back of his head in cluelessness.

_How could he forget that he was just being a total jackass towards me? _This was the second time he had become someone that wasn't like himself at all. There was something very wrong with Ven that I was totally and utterly sure about. But what it exactly was confused me. One thing I knew for sure was that it had to do something with his memory loss. I tried to put the puzzle pieces together.

_Memory loss, sudden change of attitude, different personalities._ The list became larger and larger the more I thought about it.

Maybe his bad-attitude state was his normal attitude before he lost his memories. I guessed silently. Was it true that Ven's memories had begun to return so suddenly? I hoped that it wasn't the case because I couldn't stand Ven when he was in his crappy attitude state. But then again, he couldn't stand the loss of his memories.

"Never mind." I answered.

"Now then, will you three be traveling together to find Master Xehanort like the elite, or will you split up and have a better chance of finding him more quickly?"

"I think we should split up." I gave my answer to Aqua and Ven's dismay.

"Why? I think we would be better off staying together. Don't you think so too, Ven?" Aqua nudged the teen who was not paying attention.

"Yeah, sure."

"But we are pressed for time, you guys. The whole universe is in danger, and the quicker we get our job done the better; I say we split up." Even though I knew arguing with Aqua was pointless, I hoped she would agree.

"But-" Aqua was interrupted by the clearing of Master Oni's throat, "Ahem, I think Terra is right, Aqua. It would be better if you three split up. You are right that it might be more dangerous, but danger will threaten you less the more quickly you move."

"Fine." It was the first time in Aqua's life that she had given up an argument.

"But you must all return to the castle here after every single world you go to and report your findings." The elder insisted.

"Yes sir!" All three of us saluted, eager to start.

"Very well, then. I'll see you off. Goodbye, and return when you are done searching the world you are sent to. Oh yes, and don't let anyone from the world you go to know that you're not from there. You must protect the world order."

"Okay, I'll see you later, Ven, Aqua." I nodded at each of them in turn as I pronounced their names. I summoned a portal that was a swirl of blue, gray, and white; no different than Master Oni's original one. Without hesitant manner(as I had the first time I went through a portal) I walked slowly into the void with confidence.

Chapter 20:Part 2~Beast's Castle

I woke up in a beautiful forest filled to the brim with lush green trees and ferns surrounding me. A few scarlet roses added a splash of color here and there while birdsong filled the air with short, long, loud, and soft tunes. A small trickling waterfall that reminded me of the candlelit room back at home shone in the morning glow. In the foggy distance loomed a castle with lime green roofs that matched the forests surrounding it.

_Wow, I'm farther away from civilization than I meant to be. Stupid portals; if only I could actually summon them. _I mumbled in complaint before familiar screeching replaced the beautiful songs of nature.

"Not you again!" My Keyblade was summoned instantly, ready for battle with the Unbirths at any given moment. Instead of the normal Dawn variety of monsters, there were a few Large Nightmares scattered about, and a new kind of Unbirth I had never seen before was dancing in front of me in a swift manner. It was shaped like small oak tree, except that it had two menacing blood-red slits for eyes, and it had arms that were constantly barbed. Hoping that the name wasn't too cheesy, I decided to call them Barbed Crests.

Due to my experience with Large Nightmares in the past, I finished them off first with only two swings of _Eternal Horizons _per monster. On the other hand, though, the Barbed Crests were a little more difficult. First of all, their main attack was to flex the muscles in their arms and shoot all the needles in every direction. The tree splinters that shot out of their arms were luckily just what they were, so they didn't harm me unless the wood penetrated my skin deeply. I defeated two with about five blows from my Keyblade, and the other three ran away from me before I could give chase.

"Well that was terrifying." I announced in sarcasm. As I got even closer to the castle, I noticed that a neat little village was tucked under the shadow of the huge structure.

"Should I heads towards the castle, or should I go for the town?"

I decided on the town, since it was closer and looked like there was possible hospitality there.

_Man, it's so weird to have to talk to myself. _I pondered mentally as I walked towards the village. I was so used to speaking with Aqua, Ven, or Master Oni that I seldom spoke to myself.

Arriving at the edge of the forest, I met a golden prairie that created the outskirts of the town. A few farmhouses and barns were scattered at random, so I picked one that was sided with pure white bricks and a wooden roof; it took me a few hours just to reach the border of civilization, so the sky had begun to slightly before I had reached the cottage.

On my way there, I stopped suddenly. The hairs on the back of my neck raised to the sky as I felt the eerie static of being watched closely. As soon as I turned around to look, the feeling instantly disappeared.

_That was weird._

The sound of a door squealing open could be heard as a brunette with a blue and white dress walked quickly to her unknown destination with a wooden pail in hand. She brushed the left side of her head with confidence as she continued her stroll.

"_Little town, it's a quiet village."_ The woman began to sing with sheer beauty and she headed up the hill.

"_Every day, like the one before."_

"_Little town, with the little people waking up to say-"_Her song was interrupted as almost everyone on the town slammed their windows open to greet, "Bonjour, Bonjour!"

"_There goes the baker with his tray, like always."_ A short man wearing a white apron and a tall snowy hat ran quickly past her in a hurry.

"_The same old bread and rolls to sell."_The baker sprinted towards me with heaps of freshly baked bread. Wafts of the smell floated up my nose and reminded me of how my mom would always bake tons of bread and cookies either on weekends or her free time. Every time, she'd invite Ven and Aqua over to eat it with us, and of course, Ven would always ask for seconds.

"_Every morning just the same, since that morning when we came to this poor, providential town."_ Another baker came past her and greeted, "Good morning, Belle."

"Good morning, messieur."

"Where are you off to?" The stubby little baker with the red hair asked innocently.

"The book shop." Belle answered with a sigh.

_This must be the way it is for her, come to the town, sing, greet everyone, tell everyone where she's going. _Creeping closer, I saw that she pulled a red book out of her basket and say, "I just finished this great book about a beanstalk, and an ogre, and-"

"That's nice." Her excited announcement was stopped early by the busy baker's voice, "Marie, hurry up with those baguettes!" He called up through the open window. Belle shrugged and rolled her eyes at the fact that this happened almost every day in routine. I tried to get close to her and get her attention by asking her more about the book she was infatuated with, but she walked away with her eyes closed in happiness.

"_Look! There she goes! That girl is strange, no question!"_Two old hags with hats on whispered to eachother in gossip.

"_She's very distracted, can't you tell?"_ In order to revenge for the poor girl Belle, I "accidentally" managed to trip them as they walked past me with a sneer on their wrinkly faces.

_When I get back to Castle Celest, I have to tell Ven and Aqua that I found two of Geezernort's wives._

"_For her head is upon a cloud."_ Two men called from a balcony that loomed above Belle insulted as she quietly walked past. Once again, I avenged Belle by this time shooting a bolt of lightning at them. Their sideburns, the only hair they had, was burnt to a crisp as they fell over from pain.

Don't ask me why I was doing this for some random girl I didn't even know, but I think it had to do with my hate list and how the people who insulted her reminded me of them.

Belle jumped onto the back of a carriage with only one hand and foot hanging on. Her basket swayed back and forth as she waited for her destination to come into view. The brunette didn't even notice as I leaped to sit on the same exact carriage she was on. I grasped the edge of the hood and swung my feet over the top to gain them foundation.

" There must be more than this providential life." Belle sung as she hopped off onto the street as the book store loomed in front of her. Before she could see me, I also jumped off and hid by a crowd of people. I then followed her into the bookstore once she slid inside the door.

The store was owned by and elderly old man that had a long white beard.

"Ah, hello there, Belle."

"Good morning! I came to return the book I borrowed from you." Belle then held the book in front of the librarian's face. I waited behind a stack of old dictionaries as the tall girl answered the old man's question, "Yes, I did finish it quickly, didn't I? I just couldn't take my eyes off of it! Have you got anything new?" She asked while climbing one of the many ladders.

"No, no, not since yesterday." He admitted with disappointment.

"Oh well. I can just borrow....this one." Belle took a green book off of a bookcase.

"That one, Belle? But you've read it twice already."

"Hey, um, excuse me?" I slithered to the desk the man worked at and peeked over the edge.

"But it's my favorite!" She twisted around on the wooden ladder with excitement.

"Mister, excuse me?"

"Endearing places, sword fights, magic spells, a prince in disguise." She went on and on about how wonderful her book was.

"If you love it that much, then it's yours." The old man offered.

"Excuse me?"

A group of three men waited outside the window and oogled Belle with nonchalant and supposedly 'manly' poses. I followed Belle after a few seconds of waiting. The men who looked Belle over and over glared at me as I walked past, so I glared back.

"_Look! There she goes! That girl is so peculiar."_ The trio sang in a flirty manner.

Belle entered the town square with her nose glued to the inside of the dusty green book with interest.

" Now, isn't this amazing?" She sat on the rim of a fountain while showing one of the lambs her new book.

"_It's my favorite part because you'll see; here's Prince Charming."_ I couldn't believe it; the reason why Belle actually read that book was because of the handsome dude in it? Soon Belle was to become the first person on my list of cheesy things.

"_Now it's no wonder why her name means beauty. Her looks have no parallel." _

"_She's nothing like the rest of us."_ The townspeople sang with scorn of her different preferences and attributes.

"Yeah, and you know why she's nothing like you!?" Town square fell silent as I answered, "Because she actually has common sense!" The only person who didn't hear me was the one I was standing up for. Some of the townspeople who had heard my recent outburst walked out of their front doors and sneered at me with pitchforks in hand. I decided that it was time to move on.

A man with pure black hair and a extremely ugly butt chin also watched Belle carefully as she strolled past in ignorance. Angry that she dare walk past the most "beautiful" man in the whole village, he followed her in pursuit. He looked around in confusion as Belle melted away into a distant crowd.

"I am going to make that girl my wife!" Gaston announced to the people of the town. He climbed to the top of a house and looked down at her in admiration. Before Belle could even reach the bridge that led to her humble home, Gaston leaped down in front of her. To make sure that he wouldn't harm her, I watched them closely from behind a tree.

"Hello there, Belle." He greeted with his hands on his hips.

"Bonjour, Gaston." She called back with the book still covering her face. I knew that she was trying to completely ignore him; I had seen Aqua do it at the castle in the hallway many times. In order to make sure that Belle was paying Gaston full attention, he took her book away.

"Gaston, may I have my book back?" She rolled her eyes.

"You can read this? But there's no pictures!" He glanced through the pages.

I decided that it was time to show myself. Belle and Gaston gasped with fright at my sudden appearance.

"So, you can only read little picture books, can you?" Gaston looked taken aback at my question and sneered, "You don't?"

"Who are you?" Belle asked me with her curiosity burning at full temperature.

"A friend, I guess." I shrugged.

"Well, you don't seem to want to harm us." Her brown eyes twinkled with trust.

"Anyways, some people can actually use their imagination." She finally answered Gaston's question with confidence.

Gaston threw Belle's book into a pile of mud, "It's about time you actually get your nose out of those books and payed more attention to more important things. Like me, for instance."

"The whole town has been talking about it," Belle fell to her knees and picked up her now muddled book.

"It's not right for a woman to read a book."

"I can argue with that." I ended the silence with my forefinger raised.

"Stay outta this, punk!" Gaston gripped me by the neck of my shirt. I could tell that he had probably never picked up a toothbrush in his whole life.

"Want to go with me to the tavern and look at my trophies?" Gaston's butt chin was raised as he smiled innocently.

"Maybe later, Gaston." Belle sighed.

"Well, I have to go home to help my father. I'll see you later, Gaston." She waved with silent hate as she treaded over the bridge with unhappiness. I instinctively followed her.

"Do you have anywhere to go?" Belle rubbed her hair as I shook my head.

"Well, I'm sure my father would let you stay for a night. Anyways, thanks for standing up for me back there." She giggled

"Oh, you heard me, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I may read a lot of books, but I do always listen to people even when I'm reading." I decided it wasn't such a good idea to ask her why women weren't supposed to know how to read, but I guessed that it was just the culture the town had.

"Well, if you're going to stay at my house you'll need to help me and my father out. And he'll probably make you sleep in the barn."

"That crazy old goon needs all the help he can get." Gaston replied with a quick loogie.

"My father is not crazy; he's a genius." Belle defended. Just then, a loud booming noise erupted from her house and red smoke billowed from every window. I ran along with her to see if her father was doing okay. She opened the doors that led to the cellar of the cottage and even more dust clouded out. We could hear continuous coughing echoing from the inside.

"Papa?" Belle gathered courage and walked inside.

"I'll never get this stupid contraption to work!" Belle's father was a short and stubby little man with hair that was turning white with age. Every time he blinked you could see his tufty white eyebrows dance up and down.

"You always say that, Papa. You'll probably get first place in the fair tomorrow, I'm sure of it!"

"Humph!" The old man grumbled and crossed his arms.

"And you'll be a world famous inventor." Belle cheered her father on as I peered around the corner of the room.

"And who is this?" Belle's father glanced at me in wonder.

"Oh well, he stood up for me and made sure I was safe while I made my rounds in town, so I promised that he could stay with us for the night."

"Very well then; any friend of my daughter is my friend as well. It's very nice to meet you, what is your name?"

"Terra." I answered and shook his outstretched hand.

"Ah, now, could you hand me a wrench, dear friend?" Belle's father had crawled back under his invention and called to Belle.

"So, how was it today?"

"Well, I got a new book." Belle admitted as she handed the silver tool to her father.

"Do you think I'm....odd?" She asked her father.

"My daughter? Where would ya get an idea like that?" The middle-aged man rolled out from under his invention with goggles on that amplified his already big and curious eyes.

"I don't know." Belle looked at me, then back at her father while remembering the rude and scornful townspeople.

"There's no one I can really talk to in town; they don't think that I fit in. Well, except you of course." She glanced at me with laughter in her eyes.

"What about that Gaston kid?" The father rolled back under his new invention. You could hear multiple clanking and clunking as he fiddled around inside.

"I don't think anyone would want to talk to him, judging by the way he struts around and boasts of his 'beauty'." I answered for Belle, who was staring at the ground in self pity.

With certainty and joy her father promised, "Well, don't you worry my dear; this invention's going to be the start of a new life for us."

"Now, let's give the invention a try." The latch on the machine was unlocked as the man pulled down on it. You could hear gurgles from the structure as it steamed and worked at thrusting down the axe. Pieces of firewood flew overhead and landed onto a heap of freshly cut pine.

"It works? It works!" Belle's father leaped to the sky in excitement.

"You really did it, father." She embraced him tightly.

"Yes, I did it! I did it!" The stubby little man skipped over to me and almost choked me with a very tight bear hug.

"Yeah, you did it." My voice was muffled and my lips pursed while they turned white as his hug got tighter and tighter.

"Father, I think you should let Terra go now." Belle added to much to my physical and mental relief.

"Oops, I guess I let my excitement control me." He apologized as he let me go.

_Yeah, I kinda noticed. _

"Goodbye, Papa." Belle farewelled as her dad stumbled away on a clydesdale. The horse trotted at a fast pace as commanded by the man riding it.

"I'll see you soon." The father waved as he disappeared over the hill.

"Well, it'll be getting dark soon, so I better show you to the barn." Belle held my shoulder as she guided towards the tall building that was filled with the rank of cow and horse dung.

"Are you sure you don't, you know, have an extra room in the house, or something?" I chuckled as the stench got worse the closer we came to the barn.

"Well, if it were my decision I would've let you sleep in our spare bedroom. But since my father told me not to give you the room since his inventions are stored in there......" Her voice trailed off as we met the stinky building.

"Moo!"

"Don't worry, you can sleep in the hayloft. The animals won't bother you there. But I must warn you, there may be bats and ticks hiding in the hay and on the ceiling, so be careful." Belle pointed to the rafters. In fact, I saw a few globs of black up there hanging from the ceiling.

_Oh great, I get to sleep in the smelliest barn I have ever seen and to sleep with ticks and vampire bats. I really know how to pick the best people to stay with, don't I?_

"Well, good night." Belle waved from below the loft with a smile as I tried to make a temporary bed with the hay and straw.

"Yeah, I'll try that." I called back quietly as I watched a few of the bats twitch with light sleep.

The next day was once again a sunny morning. I awoke from the bright sunlight that peeked through the open window next to me. Luckily there had been no ticks in my bedding and the bats ignored me. In order to see how Belle was doing, I got out of the barn the fun and dangerous way by jumping clearly out of the window.

Gaston was kneeling butt up in a mud pond.

"Serves him right." I said to myself.

Upon coming closer to the house, I heard the black-haired man grumble, "I'll get her to marry me no matter what."

I guessed that Gaston had come to her house and proposed marriage. And Belle, being the intelligent woman she was, decided to turn him down.

I walked over to the house to check if Belle was okay. She was peering through the window, and when she saw me she instantly slammed the door open, "Is he gone?"

"Yep." I nodded with certainty.

"Can you imagine, Terra; he asked me to marry him!" She thrust her fist down to her side in anger and frustration.

"Well, that just means you have an annoying admirer, doesn't it? Don't worry, I know how you feel." An image of Pico leaped into my mind's eye.

"Me, being Miss Gaston? No way, no sir, not me." Her brown eyes rolled and she ran off to the hill that loomed about ten feet away.

"I want much, much more than this providential life." She sighed.

"I want adventure in the great light, somewhere." Belle began to sing as a great river tumbled below her in glee.

"I want it more than I can tell." Her brunette hair blew in the wind as she fell to her knees. She began to play with a few cattail grasses.

"And for once it might be grand, to have someone understand." A few red petals fell to the prairie as she plucked them off one by one.

_Is this the same way Ven feels? _I asked myself in wonder. Did Ven really feel that he was not understood all that well? But he couldn't blame me or Aqua for it because we had never lost our memories. But I knew that he became angry because he either didn't have anyone to blame it on, or he blamed himself. A rush of sympathy tumbled through my heart and made me pity him.

"I want so much more than they've got planned." Sprigs of cotton seeds floated through the air as Belle let them go.

All of the sudden, a horse whinnied in the distance.

"Phillipe! What is wrong?" Belle instantly got up to meet the tan horse and noticed that her father was not with him.

"What happened to father?"

"Oh, we have to find him!" She rushed over to me and grabbed my wrist, "Please Terra, help me find my father." The look of pleading and helplessness in her eyes made me feel guilty of not wanting to go with her.

"Yeah, I'll go with you." I gave up and announced to her relief.

"Oh, thank you!"

"Phillipe, you must take us to him." She ordered the horse with strict command.

"Come on." Belle held out her hand to help me up on the horse. I obliged and helped myself up. Instinctively, Phillipe started to run as soon as I settled myself down on his back.

After about an hour we came to a fork in a path. One road led to a sunny forest, and the other led to a misty and dark glen. Much to my dismay, Phillipe led us down the dark and evil path with fear.

We stopped at a black and ornate gate that creaked as the howling wind blew past. Among the hooting of owls and rustling of trees were the howls of wolves. As soon as Belle heard it, about ten to twenty of them skidded to a stop in front of us. No, they weren't just any wolves; they had the Unbirth symbol across their muzzles.

"Uh-oh. Belle, go on ahead! I'll deal with these idiots!" I fought desperately with my Keyblade to not summon it in front of Belle. If she saw _Eternal Horizons, _she would guess that I wasn't just any other person who just happened to stroll past the town.

"Are you sure you can handle it?" She asked me with concern in her voice.

"Yeah, I'll meet you in the castle when I finish them off." With that, Belle led Phillipe into the courtyard of the castle without haste.


	21. Terra's Story:Book 1:Chapter 21

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep Zero-Book 1:Part 2-Terra's Story, Chapter 21:

NOTE: Sorry I haven't updated in about two weeks, I've had writer's block for too long.

"Stupid Unbirths!" I scathed with anger after I was scratched by a Dawn. I had been fighting them off for what felt about an hour, and I was about to fall over and die from exhaustion. Well, I may be exaggerating just a little bit, but you get the point.

"Hiss!" The Unbirth sneered back with hate and bit my right arm.

"Damn it! You just had to bite the arm I hold my Keyblade with, didn't you?" In reply the Unbirth clapped it's silvery and blue hands in happiness as I tightened my grip on the four teeth marks that oozed with blood.

"You won't be clapping for long, you little-" My threat was stopped from sudden interruption.

"Hey, Terra! Need some help?" To my relief Ven had come to the rescue with his Keyblade in hand.

"Yeah, help would be pretty nice right now!" I yelled back to the teen who was trying to get to me but was coming slowly because so many branches from the trees slapped his face. By the time he had finally got to me his face looked like a peppermint candy.

"What was taking you so long to get back to the castle?" Ven asked as he swung _Divided Fate _around in a full circle. Ashes blew away in the wind as three Dawn Unbirths melted into nothing.

"Was it really that bad?" I had used a cure spell and my arm was ready to help me fight once again.

"Yeah. You were gone for like, two days by the time I came here." Just then, Ven began to stab one Large Nightmare over and over again repeatedly. Before the monster could even fade away into ashes, Ven froze it with a powerful blizzard spell, which must have been the next level up called Blizzara. The enemy was frozen solid as the teen's body and Keyblade began to glow a yellowish color. Once again he stabbed the enemy countless times but this time many bolts of lightning shocked the Unbirth. The monster's harsh death was nothing compared to how Ven destroyed all of his other enemies.

"Where's you learn how to do that?" I asked once his body turned back to a normal fleshy pink color.

"Oh, it's just a trick I picked up." He admitted with a casual tone of voice.

"Wow." That was the only word I could say after seeing the most awesome offensive attack I had ever seen in my entire life.

"Yeah, the world I went to was really weird; let's see, first there was this talking rabbit who kept yelling "I'm late!", and then there was this fat bitch who tried to get her card guards to kill me. Oh well, at least I got to hit with a Thunder spell before she could catch me. Her face was even uglier than before after I was done with her." He shrugged in delight.

"Wow." I repeated with awe.

"I told her that I knew someone she should hook up with if she was into creepy old men." Ven pulled on his ears and made his eyes slanty, "You little cockroach! I should turn you into a cockroach!" He mocked the elder with glee.

"Aqua said that her world was a town in the middle of a desert, and that she had to help some poor boy named Ali, or Alad, or something like that." Ven informed me.

"Well then, I guess my world was the most boring one. I had to help this girl named Belle find her father."

"Did you?" Ven glanced at the creaking gate up ahead with nervousness.

"Kinda. I mean, well I did help her get here, and I did protect her by telling her that she should go on while I defeat all of the monsters here. So, I guess I did as she asked."

"We should get back then." He thrust his dominant left hand out to summon a portal.

"Okay." I jumped into the portal before he did.

"Welcome, Terra." An elderly voice met my ears as a hot deserted wasteland came into view.

_Wait, this isn't Castle Celest. _I glanced around the area and saw number one on my hate list: Xehanort.

"Of course it isn't Castle Celest, cockroach." He sneered with disgust, "Why would I ever feel to go to that pile of rubble?"

"Why did you leave us? And where is that annoying little apprentice of yours?" Looking around my surroundings I noticed that Igneous was no where in sight.

Suddenly a gust of sandstorm blew past us with fury as I struggled to find my footing. I finally got to my feet and saw that Master Xehanort closed his eyes and bowed his head in apparent shame, "Those that submit to darkness are not qualified to wield the Keyblade."

He opened his eyes slightly and I saw a twinkle of deception, "Already, Igneous is monster infused with darkness."

Xehanort had finally let one of his hands out from behind his back and held it towards me, "Defeat the darkness, and correct my mistake." His boots tussled the sand as he walked closer to me with his amber eyes glowing.

"So you're saying Igneous is a monster of the darkness?" I asked while trying to fool Geezernort into thinking that I actually cared.

He nodded with his eyes closed.

"And even though it's not my fault, you're saying that I should kill him because you were too lazy to watch him as he became one?" I summoned my Keyblade and prepared to go into battle stance at any time needed.

"How dumb and foolish do you think I am?"

"You fool! How could you selfishly make an old man like me kill his own apprentice? It would sicken me so much to see that all the effort I put into training was wasted away by my own hands."

"You were probably the one who turned him into the monster!" Now was the time to get into a battle pose, so I raised _Eternal Horizons _from my side and held my left hand out in front of me.

Xehanort gasped in a very fake way, "Me? Why would I ever want to do that?" He started to smile maniacally as he came to the realization that I was catching on to him.

"Do not lie to me." I ordered and slanted my eyes with hate.

"So, you are more intelligent than I thought. It's such a shame that you didn't become my apprentice instead; you would have served a better purpose." The empty wasteland was filled with echoing, slow, and evil cackles as Xehanort closed his eyes and turned his head to the sky.

" You'd really turn your own ally into a monster mercilessly? You're even crueler than I thought!"

"Igneous was becoming too intelligent for his own good, so I put his sane mind to rest and turned him into my slave. What do you think is so cruel about that?" His sharp canines gleamed in the beaming sunlight as he lowered his head and smirked. All of the sudden a swirl of darkness appeared as Igneous entered our sight. Instead of his orange and spiky hair sticking up above his head like the Eiffel Tower, he had on a black and purple helm that concealed his entire face.

"Terra, meet the new Igneous." The teen nodded his head in agreement and summoned his Keyblade also.

"He's even uglier than before." I mumbled to myself in disgust.

"Now then, my apprentice, obliterate this unworthy fool before I hurl from the resonating light that is seething out of him!" On Xehanort's command, Igneous readied himself into a battle stance.

"So carrot-top and want a fight, huh? Well then, you've got one coming!" At my warning I began to run towards Igneous with a slow pace; my feet kept tripping in the rolling sand.

"You run like a turtle!" Geezernort called from the sidelines before I snarled back, "I'd like to see you try it yourself, Lord Geezer."

Just then, Igneous caught me off guard and gave me a searing cut about a foot long on my arm.

"Good job, Igneous. You don't have to cook for me tonight since you already put a smile on my face." Xehanort praised the dark teenager.

"You even make him cook for you? You are the most pathetic and useless old fart I have ever-" I was interrupted as my opponent once again slashed my arm with an even longer scar. I would have guessed maybe about two feet long.

Now both of my arms were oozing with blood furiously as my thoughts strayed back to Ven.

_How did he learn such amazing battle techniques within just one day?_

A gushing noise sounded as a long cut was created from my tailbone to the top of my neck.

"Ah!" I fell to my knees at the sudden rush of unbelievable pain.

"Igneous has cut you three times now, and you haven't even raised your blade; it seems that you're losing your sanity quicker than I thought."

"Quicker....than you thought? What is that supposed to-ah!" Gasps of out came out of my mouth as yet another cut was made on my skin. This time it was in the shape of a heart.

_Crap, why did he have to make a heart? I look even girlier than I did with just the ribbons._

The next few moments were of Igneous catching me off guard for the fourth time and his Keyblade making multiple cuts all over my back. Pain melted through my torso without mercy as I watched Master Xehanort clap in achievement.

"Very well done; you've left him a scar that he'll never forget." As Xehanort said the word "forget", even more unbearable pain pulsed and made me cringe, grit my teeth, and tighten my fists.

"Now, to make sure that the wind doesn't blow even more sand into it, I'll cover it up for you." The elder offered as he waved his finger at me. Instantly the black material grew back into shape without any fractures.

"What?" That was all I said before Xehanort and his apprentice entered a portal and left me there in the hot and suddenly cloudy desert.

"I need to make it back to Castle Celest." I reminded myself as another strong gust of sand made me close my eyes.

"But how can I even get on my feet?" Asking this made me instinctively struggle to stand up. It took me about ten minutes to actually arrive at that goal. Sadly, my efforts were wasted as I fell over from a slightly powerful breeze.

_Maybe if I just summoned a portal here and called into it...._I summoned a portal on my silent guess and began to call Ven's and Aqua's names desperately.

A familiar voice came to my relief, "Terra, is that you?"

"Aqua! Please help me!" I called in answer.

The swirling portal shimmered as the blue-haired girl came through with concern in her eyes.

"Terra, what happened to you?" I explained that Igneous and Master Xehanort had ganged up on me, and that they had just left through a corridor of darkness. I also told her about Igneous's new look and day job.

"You need to see Master Oni right away." She urged without seeming the slightest bit caring about how I might need to see a nurse right away as well.

Before the portal could disappear completely, Aqua dragged me as she floated with stunning strength.

"You found him?" Master Oni's voice drifted me into consciousness.

"Yeah, he summoned a portal and called through it." The blue haired girl nodded at me and then added, "He's been injured badly."

"From what? Unbirths?" His eyes then twinkled with suspicion.

"No. It was Igneous and Master Xehanort." At that, Master Oni gasped with disbelief, "You are not kidding, are you? How is that even possible?" The crunching of leather could be heard from the elder's tightening fists.

"I told you the truth. Master Xehanort and Igneous were the ones who attacked me. Just look at the cuts on my arms and my back; they couldn't have been made by a normal Unbirth judging by the fact that they are purple and black." I pointed to the dark gashes on my arms that looked like flowing streams of black water.

"Yes, but those probably just came with the cuts, like a bruise for example." His distrust in my word made Aqua glance at me and shrug with confusion.

"And you don't believe me because?"

"Well, it's just that Xehanort would never do such a thing. He may have his bald skull shoved up his rear, but my brother would never harm anyone without reason."

_What is wrong with him? He doesn't believe his most trustworthy apprentice just because he thinks that his stupid brother would never "harm" anyone. _I muttered in silence.

"Geezernort has tried to harm me countless times; like when I was trying to mind my own business while taking a nice shower, and he came into the bathroom, pulled me out of the bathtub, and dragged me to your office. And I assure you, it felt like I was living in a nightmare." My shoulders shuddered with the memory's return.

"Yes, but that was not physically harming you. It was only socially harming you by embarrassment, nothing more to it. You probably are just angry at the fact that you're wasting your effort by trying to lie to me." Now Master Oni was starting to get on my nerves even more as he chuckled with pity.

"So you think that going out to find him was just a waste of effort? You think it's funny how I'm running my ass off and almost get scratched to death just because I'm doing the dirty work you would be better off doing?" I overpowered my injury's refusal to get up by letting my frustration fly.

"No, it's just that I think that you should give up on lying to me. Hah! Who would've thought it? Xehanort trying to kill you? Who thinks up these insane statements that they drill into children's minds these days?"

"I think that you've got the wrong idea here, old man." I warned without giving him the respectful greeting of 'Master'.

"You dare to address me without proper respect!?" Master Oni had begun to do exactly as I wanted. His anger began to fly as his hand became enveloped with a light so pure that it almost blinded you just by glancing at it.

"One more disrespectful reply out of you and I'll make sure you never see the light of day again." Aqua and I stood awed at the summoning of Master Oni's Keyblade. Like it's entrance, it was mostly silver and white with a little bit of blue at the edges. The hand guard was an opalescent white and oval with somewhat of a strand of silver metal that winded around it. In the middle of it was a navy blue handle that came out of the top and faded into small, silver wings. Like most other Keyblades, the weapon also had a silver rod that protruded on the top and went on for about five feet until it met the tip. Around the rod were two strands of periwinkle snaking and twisting around until the two met the tip also. On the outsides of the strands were the two sides of the blade; they were shaped like even more wings that folded until they once again met the tip.

"Are you impressed?" A maniacal grin that matched his twin's appeared suddenly on the elder's face.

"Somewhat." I mumbled back.

The first attack against me was a simple blizzard spell. The chunks of snow and ice whizzed past me without even coming close.

"What was _that_?" I asked the elder with pity at the pathetic attack.

"I was just getting warmed up." Just then, I was mobbed by rushes of spell of every kind; flame, ice, lightning, wind, and even gravity flew past as soon as the Keyblade Master summoned them.

I gasped as one of the blizzard spells hit my leg.

"Numb." My hand rubbed the outside of my pants in order to make sure that I wasn't bleeding from any of the shards of ice.

"It seems that my blizzard spell immobilized your leg." He surmised with a smile.

"To save me the trouble, why don't you just give up and apologize before I have to turn you into an iceberg, hmm?"

"Do you really think I'm going to give up just because you told me to?" I raised my head to meet his blank stare with boldness.

"Either that, or I'll have a charred husk for an apprentice." The hall was filled with his deep rumbling laughter before he added, "And we wouldn't want that, now would we?"

"Terra, just give up. You're no match for him." Aqua whispered from the sidelines.

I helped myself up and summoned _Eternal Horizons. _No matter how tough and painful this battle was going to be, my stubborn and confident attitude told me to do it anyways.

"Very well, then. If you insist...." The battle had begun. As the elder had done before, many uninterrupted blasts and rushes of spells flew past me surprising agility. Almost all of them struck me and caused me to falter and descend to my knees from the throbbing pain. I solely spurned the urge to yelp in pain in order to make Master Oni foolishly think that he had so easily won.

"Stand up so I don't waste any more time on destroying you." The command echoed through the hall as soon as it was called. Ignoring the pain to stand up proved immensely difficult. I decided abruptly to figure out a new plan; was it to run away, or should I have tried to outwit Master Oni? Considering the fact that in a contest of wisdom a seventeen-year-old against a one-thousand three hundred and sixty eight year old man probably wouldn't be too pretty, the outwitting approach didn't seem like the best option.

_Run away; you'll be called a coward, but it's better than being turned into a crisp husk of charred bones. _On my silent command, I finally managed to push the annoying calls that my body desperately yelped out as I ran away as fast as I could. Master Oni's rumbling laughter echoed in mockery as I turned a corner. The odd material on my shoes caused me to slide endlessly across the marble floor until I hit the opposite end. After recovering from my slight dizzy spell, I turned around to become face to face with a familiar, wrinkly smirk.

"Well hello, young friend. How was your brisk little jog?" Rubble flew where my head had been as I dodged Master Oni's Keyblade; a huge chunk of of marble was missing from the wall.

"Crap." I mumbled with a nonchalant tone.

Pieces of the white rock made me trip and stumble as they covered the hall. The elder had made many futile attempts to strike me but all ended up hitting solid wall.

"You can't possibly run forever, and don't even consider hiding." Master Oni twisted the original saying, "You can run but you can't hide" in order to strike me with hopelessness. Luckily it didn't work, for the countless times where I had run away from Xehanort had proved him wrong.

"Where did that little cockroach go now?" Master Oni's words struck me with realization. This was not the elder I had known since a year ago.

This was number one on my hate list.


	22. Terra's Story:Book 1:Chapter 22

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep Zero-Book 1, Chapter 22:

Once again, awesomeness shall be given as a wonderful gift to my loyal reviewers, namixasvenkhfan and Darknesswhereibelong, who has bestowed the same amount of awesomeness upon me. Oh yes, share the awesomeness....Anyways, I know that I have not updated in either ten or eleven days, and I'm sorry. I've been replaying KH1 for a week now and I didn't have the will power to turn it off and come to my computer to write(shame on me) Now then, have a Happy Thanksgiving and a great, long, and wonderful holiday weekend. I hope to update at least twice before this vacation ends, and I bet you won't guess what world Terra will be going to next:) And another thing that I must not forget, thank you for spending time to review continuously ( this goes to Darknesswhereibelong, namixasvenkhfan, and her sibling), and I also thank all for reading and spending their special time too. Oh yeah, does anyone else think Yoko Shimomura's(KH music director) new album Drammatica is awesome? And another thing to consider, I showed my grandmother a picture of Master Xehanort on my PSP, and told her that he was her hottie. You know what she said? She said that "Ick, he's ugly. He looks like death warmed over." Lolz goes to grandma.

From the writer of KH:BBS Zero,

Eternal Symphonia

P.S: As you can tell from when I updated with the last chapter, I said that I would be re-mixing BBS Zero, but I've decided to hold that off until I finish the WHOLE story.(including all nine books, three of Aqua's, three of Ven's, and the other two of Terra's). Each book will be about thirty chapters long, so that means if I calculate it....well, thirty times nine equals two-hundred seventy, and this is the twenty-second chapter, so if I take twenty-two off of two-hundred seventy, I get two-hundred and forty-eight chapters ahead of me. And each chapter is about 1,500 to 4,500 words long, so I'll take 248 and times it by 3000, and I get(man, my brain hurts) 744,000 words to go. Do you think I'll make it by the time BBS comes out? I hope so. And as a plus, you had math problems drilled into your head on a vacation(it burns...). Now then, let the story of a boy obsessed with cheesiness continue.

"Thought you could trick me, didn't you, Geezernort?" My question sent the elder swiveling around to see my position.

"What do you mean, Geezernort? I am Master Oni, can't you tell the difference?" His glossy white eyes coruscated slightly to reveal a flash of shock.

"Yet again you lie to me." _Eternal Horizons _flew past his head and a screeching noise sounded as it harshly impacted the now corroded brown marble. The more my confidence and hatred grew, the more the wall browned; after about ten seconds, it turned a forbidding black. The elder turned around and glanced at the grisly chunk of rock with wariness, "It seems you've learned to channel your emotions through your Keyblade."

"Show yourself, Xehanort!" My blade was re-summoned into my dominant hand before I shot a powerful Blizzard spell. 's whole left leg was now immobilized with numbness and was encased by a thick layer of black ice. The frozen chunk of water was so pure that I could even see a teenage boy staring back at me in fascination.

"I don't know how you've learned to do such a powerful spell in such a short amount of time, but I am confident about the fact that you probably didn't teach it to yourself, judging by your amount of experience and intelligence." Master Xehanort paused and tapped his chin in thought. His snowy white eyes that reminded me of the name 'milky way' melted into amber. Everything that was Master Oni changed into Master Xehanort;his normal, pale ears turned into peachy and pointy ones, his outfit was inverted, and his trademark evil grin had returned. The replica of Master Oni's Keyblade transformed into Xehanort's gleaming, black, and purple one. Hearing and seeing only the rattling keychain of Xehanort's Keyblade and the dripping of melting water was the only warning I needed to manage avoiding my arm being cut off without mercy. Not even frustrated at his recent flawed attempt to harm me, the elder swung repeatedly without any haste, making sure that he would be able to give me at least one gash to remember. Seconds flew past in a flurry of jabs, slashes, spells, and many "cockroaches" as the battle continued.

" So and the troll doll want a fight, huh?" Xehanort's left hand was encompassed by an icy blue aura, so I could easily guess that his next attack was going to be a Blizzard spell, or something close to it. Shards of shocking cold ice scraped my forearm as they ricocheted off of _Eternal Horizons_. As Geezernort paused for a moment to smirk evilly in glee, I took the chance to do one of the most powerful attacks I had ever hoped to learn from Master Oni. Yes, you heard the word "hoped". I knew that it was an extremely hard technique to control and maneuver, but if I didn't try to even do a semi-hard ability, then I was going to be transformed into a pile of burning crap. And the really sad part was that I couldn't even remember what it was called....

_Meteor's Inferno. _The ability's name popped into my head almost instantly. I had only seen the powerful technique done once or twice, and even Master Oni had some problems trying to manage it. A scene from that training day flashed through my mind:

"Now, my apprentices. Here is another ability that I'm sure will prove useful to you." An elder's deep rumbling voice echoed throughout the abyss of nothingness as Ven, Aqua, and I stood at total attention. The familiar twinkling seemed to grow even louder as the area was enveloped by tense silence.

"You can utter words amongst yourselves while I prepare, you know." A chuckle rose from his throat. All three of us chuckled in nervous agreement back to him while Ventus leaned over and muttered to Aqua, "Yesterday he told me that I shouldn't complain just because the wind howls enough already. If he wasn't so old, I would've thought he was even more insane than Master Xehanort. When I asked him what he meant, he admitted that even he did not know what the future held. I mean, it was so off topic. Talk about dodging the question..." The teen scratched his nose in confusion. On cue, the elder stopped abruptly and his milky white irises glazed over with anger, "Ven, it is not any of Aqua's or Terra's business of what I have told you," The old man turned around and looked longingly at us, "No matter how much we refuse, we must accept what is coming. No matter how much you struggle, the future will come. No matter how long you turn away from fate, it will come. No matter...no matter at all." His starlit gaze hit the floor as a long hidden memory came to surface in his mind's eye:

"_Oni, you must not forget, once I am gone, you must seek out the three." A man who looked about twenty years of age managed to mumble before blood gurgled in his throat. Many streaks of black blood oozed down from the multiple cuts he had recently received; even his starry white hair began to turn into a opalescent pink. One of his eyes was a normal sky-blue color and was enshrouded by hope, while the other was a bright, orange-tinted amber and was glaring in hate. _

"_Yes, of course. Master Eterika, I could never forget." The sixteen-year-old boy grabbed Master Eterika's hand and squeezed it with tension._

"_Now, you must find the three of the prophecy. They are of the earth, wind, and water. Find them, and train them to wield the Keyblade. Help them fulfill their destinies, as I have done for you. Make sure that they succeed in destroying the darkness, and that they do not yield to it. If this is done, you will have saved the universe. But if not, you will have brought despair and devastation to everything. The Wind and Water flow eternally without question of where they are going. They believe that fate will carry them to light and safety. But the Earth is not so easily convinced; he will start out with happiness and a carefree attitude. By the time you even realize it, he will have already turned into a spirit that hungers for the powers of darkness. Watch him closely, my dear apprentice, for if he turns to the shadows completely....Just remember, no matter how much we refuse, we must accept what is coming. No matter how much you struggle, the future will come. No matter how long you turn away from fate, it will come. No matter...no matter..." Master Eterika's eyes fluttered shut and were forever afterwards the same. Oni raised his head and tears began to flow like rivers down his pale cheeks. The yellow heart-shaped moon turned them into droplets of rich honey from it's eerie glow. A long shadow rose from behind the boy who mourned silently._

"_Well, well, well, it seems that Eterika has finally rested. And I was just about to strike the final blow....Oh, he has never been fun at all. Ever since we were of four years, he had always cried when I teased him endlessly. Then mother came and took all the humor out of it and sent me to my stupid old room. Oh, mortals never have any fun..." The Dark One sighed and clicked his tongue with sorrow. Oni's twin brother, Xehanort, looked on ahead at the tall and evil man with awe instead of fear, "It is Him."_

"Master Oni, helloooo! Master Oni!" Ven had shaken the elder from his most vivid memory by shouting into his ear.

"Back off, you idiot! I am concentrating!" Master Oni lied and gritted his teeth. Ven cautiously backed away.

"Now then, here is the ability called Meteor's Inferno." The elder was surrounded by swirling light and wind. Our hair flew about as the old man rose off of the platform. The blond teen next to me snorted and whispered into my ear, "And I thought I'd never see the day when old men could fly."

Master Oni shut his eyes and criss-crossed his arms over his torso as if he were laying in his death bed. A minute passed before he slowly untangled his arms and lowered them to his sides. As his arms slowly raised, rocks appeared out of the mural and rose along with them. Soon five big boulders and countless stones were floating in the air. Everything was once again as silent as the dead before Master Oni brought his hands together. Suddenly, the boulders began to explode and fall to the ground; nothing was heard until Master Oni summoned his Keyblade and threw it into the middle of the platform with acute accuracy. As soon as the blade impacted the stained glass, the scattered earth began to shake, and a deep rumbling arose. Luckily, Aqua casted a Reflega spell before we were scorched to death by the flames that encased everything. All of it disappeared and two gigantic, flaming red meteors about twenty feet in width were being held in each hand; and trust me, that was just a rough estimate. Master Oni grimaced and sweat rolled down his temples before he struggled furiously to throw them. Succeeding, he thrust them away without alacrity. One half of the mural was melting in the flames, and various holes had been created from the small rocks. The other half hadn't been so lucky, though: it wasn't even there. Ven peeked over the side and watched the shattered emerald glass fall eternally until none was seen.

"Wow." That was all that I could manage to sputter as Master Oni descended slowly to the ground.

"I'm sorry that I had put you in harm's path, but I thought that you would enjoy a little fireworks show before our training today ended." A smile glowed on his facial expression. He wiped a few orange ashes off of his shoulder before he summoned a portal that led to his office.

"Oh, so the little cockroach has begun to think for himself, hmm? Well, well, that's his first time, isn't it Igneous?" Geezernort's apprentice nodded in silence.

Ignoring his comment, I began the routine in order to begin _Meteor's Inferno_. To my delight, a golden breeze surrounded me and played with my hair. The higher I rose, the more fierce the wind blew.

" Do you think that someone of your status could even dream of performing a move like that!?" Master Xehanort called over the wind and his evil bellows cascaded throughout the hall. My arms instinctively crossed over my chest and slowly descended to my sides. The boulders began to shake without end before I raised my arms high above my head in a _very _tight"v" shape. Master Xehanort's amber eyes widened tremendously when his onyx-black boots began to crackle with sparks of fire. "You little cockroach! Stop this at once!" The elder had to back away quickly, but failed to avoid most of the inferno. A terribly heavy weight pressured both of my arms before I looked up to see two giant flaming meteorites of certain death, and thought about what would happen to Xehanort.

_Wait a second, since when do I care if Geezernort gets hurt?_

" Why hello, Xehanort. I hear you're already having quite a crappy day, so I decided to give you a pleasant little gift." I nodded my head up to the meteorites, then back at him; for the first time in Geezernort's life, he had actually been afraid of a cockroach. He stuttered and stumbled backwards before falling to his rear in fear. Unbeknownst to me at the time, he was actually thinking up a devious plan to either get hit by the flaming boulders and strike revenge on me later, deflect the fireballs, or kill me before I could even aim them at him. Since the first and third one sounded the most pleasurable to him, he decided with regret that it was best not to let me witness him at full power until the final battle. I finally threw _Eternal Horizons _at the floor with confidence.

BAM! All that could eclipse my gaze was the colors of red, orange, and yellow; even a few tints of green and blue hinted at the inner heat here and there. Once the flames had cleared, Xehanort stood right in the middle of everything; everything meaning the crumpled and broken bits of scorching meteors.

"What!?" My amazement and bewilderment held me back from seeing the bald elder's next move. My left arm was instantly numb from the ice that surrounded it. The weight from the ice made me clumsily twist around as I came down from my high vantage point, leaving me totally vulnerable to any attack, spell, or strike that Xehanort propelled my way.

"Great," I growled to myself. "now I'm really going to be turned into a pile of gleaming crap." Igneous ran up to me and grabbed my right arm. "Good little apprentice, Igneous. Now you definitely won't have to cook for me for two days." patted the top of Igneous's helm. The apprentice didn't reply or anything; he just stood there in complete silence.

"Poor Igneous, did Xehanort tell you that you couldn't give out your cheesy comebacks anymore? Wow, and your insults sucked even more than his, so I can't really blame him for the first time in my life." More than over fifteen insults flew past my mouth within the next few minutes, but to my dismay they didn't even seem to phase either Igneous or Geezernort.

_God, where is everybody? It IS a Sunday, but you'd think people would've got off their lazy butts by now. And where are Aqua and Ven? _There was only one answer I could come up with, and that was that Xehanort had locked them up down in the castle dungeons. My feet began to hurt (even more than they already did) when I remembered how many flights of stairs it took to get down there.

_I could create a portal. _I importunated the idea after I recalled the fact that I sucked horribly at summoning things. Plus, I was armless, so that was another factor that flawed the outcome. Maybe there was some way that I could get to Aqua and Ven. Then I remembered: the maids and nurses always left one of the little windows that opened to the hallway near the dungeons. Ven and I had used it one time to hide from Aqua; don't ask for the details. One more problem was that we were on a floor nearing three-hundred, so jumping out of the closest window and falling through the air until I hit the ground and finding one little window in which I probably was WAY too big to crawl through sounded like suicide. So, I came to two decisions: jump out the window and possibly kill yourself, or stay here and fight while waiting for certain death. Cowardice chained my heart as I made a beeline for the huge and ornate open window nearest to my position. Igneous came running after me, of course. Right before he could swing his Keyblade at my head, I leaped out of the window and fell for God knows how long.

Not that you've ever jumped out of a three-hundred floor building or anything, but you wouldn't believe how cold it is. It felt like I was falling IN a freezer, not to mention my arm was still covered with freezing ice, so it made it worse. The one thing that was good about falling out of a window was the view; I could see many miles away. All of it was either golden prairie, long grass, ponds, or gardens streaming across the land. In the total far distance were four paths that met; two went off to the sides, another faced me, and the last one led to the rising sun.

_"The four paths of life; the Crossroads. A neverending story where fate is repetitive. All shall return to the original source once realized: Kingdom Hearts, the Heart of all."_ The lines repeated over and over again in my head without any effort on my part. I didn't even know where they had come from. Maybe it was one of those times where you hear really weird words right before you die. Or maybe the words I'm saying right now are the ones I'll hear before I die. Or maybe the words I'll say in the next few moments will be the ones I hear before I die.

_Man, I need to stop doing that. _The cryptic words, my dizzy head, and my confusion made everything feel like I was high on something, because until I hit the ground I was practically brain dead.

Thump! I landed face down in the long grass. As I looked up I saw the dew sparkling in the early morning sunlight. Then I swiveled my head to turn and glance up at the window. Igneous wasn't even there, nor was he falling throughout the air.

_That's weird...I thought he was-_ My disorientated thought was interfered by the squeaking of boots behind me. Xehanort tugged on a chunk of my hair and beamed in gratification, "Hello." Geezernort made sure that he enunciated his greeting with a long, horrible sigh. I coughed and choked from the smell; even my stomach felt like it was going to explode from the stench.

"Please, nuh. You...a toothbrush. Mints....no."

"You see, Terra, when you're going to be the most old and evil ruler in the universe, you need horrible breath. Otherwise, people wouldn't fear you as much as they should." His statement was finished by another long exhale.

"Trust...me. You don't need...extra help when it comes to being creepy and ugly."

"Good, it seems that you have suffered long enough, so I shall let you go. But," He paused for a moment. "if you and your friends want to stay alive, then I suggest you stop chasing after me." Geezernort turned around and summoned a dark portal. Before he went in, he turned his head to the side and stared at me through amber slits, "And one more thing, you might want to make sure that little boy you call friend is...sane. We wouldn't want the Unbirths that I left down in the dungeons to kill that poor and confused child, hmm?" Bellows of pure execrable amusement trampled out of the evil man's mouth as he slowly strutted into the void of darkness.

"You disgraceful, foul, decrepit old man! What did you do to him!?" My answer was only another round of laughter.

I instantly got up and advanced towards the small window that led to the basement of the castle.

_I hope Xehanort didn't do anything too wretched to him... If I find out that he so much left a scratch on Aqua or Ven, I'll kill him myself; I swear it on my life._

The iron window cried shrilly as I unlocked it with _Eternal Horizons_. There had to be someway that I could get through. I was too muscular and big to crawl through it, nor did I have any butter to help me slide through it. So I did it the only way that would work for me: break it and create a bigger opening.

Bits of rubble and silvery-blue marble created little cuts on my arms and cheeks. It took me at least a half of an hour to make a gap big enough for me. I slid through the window with silence and ease. Everything about the dungeons frightened me: there was barely any light, it was cold, and it was pretty much a giant labyrinth waiting to swallow any careless traveler who ventured within its depths. All the walls were grisly, black brick, and the floors were white sand. Spiders and cobwebs were everywhere, and every time you walked past an empty cell, you would hear the scuttling of giant cockroaches scurrying away in fear. I unconsciously shuddered in revolt at the sound of the sleeping vampire bats overhead.

"I think there's someone coming." A feminine whisper echoed down the hall.

"It better not be Xehanort." An elderly voice hissed in reply.

"If it was Xehanort, wouldn't he have called off these stupid Unbirths by now?"

A grunt erupted from a Large Nightmare.

_Okay, strategy for current scenario: surprise. _I tried to create a mental map of the hallways. The problem was that there were too many of them, and most led to dead ends; courtesy of the builders who used their craftsmanship to confuse robbers who were to rescue their allies down in the dungeons. If I had shouted to Aqua to use her voice to lead me, it would alert the Unbirths, which shot the idea out of the air.

_There must be some way..._I struggled violently to get a glimpse of any plan or idea that might work. Nothing came. I waited to see if Aqua or Master Oni would say anything more that would lead me throughout the maze, but to no avail, they were silent. Another useful training day memory shimmered:

"Now then, when you are at a loss, which I'm sure will happen often, use the Keyblade to guide you. Even in the deepest darkness, the Keyblade will find the Light."

_Yeah, but how do I even use an oversized, ugly, and heavy key to find my way through a giant maze? I mean, it's not like it'll just drag me there. _Another thing to keep in mind when you're looking for your friends in a labyrinth and the only thing you've got in mind is to use a giant key to drag you to them, don't think of it as impossible. _Eternal Horizons_, which was just previously hanging at my side decided to start moving on its own, which was really, really, _really _weird(okay, I'll admit that it was totally insane). It seemed as if someone was holding the tip and tugging on it, just waiting to see how hard he would have to pull before I would follow. Once again, my dull mind didn't catch on that maybe it was trying to lead me somewhere instead of acting like a crazy big key should. Soon it tugged so hard that I fell face first into the milky sand, and it began to drag me. I didn't even know what the hell it was doing, and I didn't want to lose my only defense, so I held on; another stupid thing to do.

My Keyblade led me through countless halls and chambers, all dark, dank, and filled to the brim with bugs and hissing cockroaches. Sand filtered into my mouth and I could have sworn that I had swallowed a spider. If it wasn't completely dark in there, I would've been certain of the fact that I had squished over a hundred bugs.

"What is that?" I heard the teenage girl who seemed closer whisper much to my dismay. If the Unbirths had payed any attention at all to her question, they would've noticed the sound of tussling sand as well. The Keyblade pulled me closer and closer to their prison; so close that I would've swore that they were only a few halls away. A loud knocking sound came from a close distance, seeming somewhat similar to the pounding of Large Nightmare feet...claws...whatever they walked on.

"ROAR!" One of the obese monsters screeched with fury upon seeing me.

"Oh what? Is that the only greeting I get?" I asked with the ideal of cockiness fresh in mind.

"Hiss!" A few Dawns leaped from behind the walls next to me with intent of murder. I tried to get _Eternal Horizons _to stop dragging me so that I could actually defend myself from the oncoming fiends, but of course, it pulled even harder and once again knocked me off of my feet.

"Hello, Keyblade; the enemies are over there, not down the hallway. I...command you to attack them, um....now, please?" _Eternal Horizons _ignored me as I pointed to the horde of monsters behind us and kept dragging me onwards to the cells.

"I said 'now', not three hours later, you stupid, annoying, ugly-" My repetitive insults were discontinued by the intonation of a wall against my face. Once I recovered slightly I yelled to my weapon, "What the hell was that for!?"

The Keyblade was silent. I was afraid to call it stupid again in the fear that it would get revenge on me, or something like that. I mean, if it could drag around a hundred and thirty pound teenager around for ten minutes, then it could kill me in my sleep, or something even worse.....like showing me pictures of Master Xehanort in a speedo.

_Now you're getting paranoid, Terra. First of all, giant, cheesy-looking, and ugly keys can't talk, and second of all, they can't show you pictures. You need to calm down. Just relax and remember, no one, not even an inanimate object would ever take a picture of Geezernort in a bathing suit and see the light of day again._ My "common" sense calmed me a bit.

"Terra, is that you?" Aqua called from a few feet away. I pointed the tip of my Keyblade to the three padlocks on each cell door. Master Oni was on the far right, Aqua was on the far left, and Ven was passed out in the middle.

"What happened to him?" Aqua looked away in guilt and anguish while Master Oni gritted his teeth and mumbled, "Xehanort."

"What did he do to him? Don't tell me..." My voice cut off as I noticed that Ven had became abnormally pale again. I ran my hand over his wrist to check for a pulse. I thanked the heavens that his heart was still beating, though it was reverberating faster than any heart should. Everything about him seemed normal otherwise: no physical injuries, no cuts, no marks, nothing.

"Well, I'm not exactly sure what he actually did to him, but it had to do something with-" The blue-haired female was interrupted by Master Oni's grunt,"He did something to his mind."

"Like what, eat his brains out? I can see it happening." Aqua took this comment as a disrespect and insulted, "You sarcastic little bastard! Do you take anything seriously? If you were here, Ven wouldn't have been hurt."

"Excuse me? So you're blaming this on me? I can't control Xehanort, you know that. Hell, I can't even control my Keyblade." Why was Aqua accusing for something that I didn't have power over? Aqua was supposed to be the balanced and level-headed one, not the totally ridiculous idiots that Ven and I were.

"Calm down, Aqua. You know that it's not Terra's fault that this happened. And no, his brains weren't eaten out, his memories were messed with. I've seen Xehanort use that power many times before; I could never mistake it for anything else." He paused and rubbed his eye within thought, "He probably went to confuse the poor thing in order to make us angry, especially you." Master Oni looked at me as if he were expecting a reply. An awkward absence of sound gripped the air of the room. Tension crackled throughout the small space before I changed the subject, "Where did those Unbirths go? They were here just a minute or two ago."

Silence had returned.

"He would make you angry to control you, Terra. Remember that time when the darkness had taken you over as a result of your hate? Master Xehanort is one of darkness, and so you being controlled by dark powers means that he can control you. I assume that is what happened to Igneous; Xehanort knew that his apprentice would soon begin to find fault in him, and would also rebel against him for his terrible actions. So, Xehanort somehow made him angry and fearful as to some horrible deed that was performed in front of him, then he took the opportunity to turn the poor teenager into a monster of darkness."

Just then, Ven began to stir. His cerulean blue eyes flickered open and were enveloped by a cloud of curiosity.

"Hey, are you okay?" Aqua sat next to him and questioned softly in a motherly tone. The teen flicked his gaze towards her and commented admiringly, "You're beautiful." Aqua's cheeks turned into a rosy red at the praise. In the background you could hear the deep chuckle of an elderly man.

"Man," He rubbed the back of his neck and yawned. "Where am I?"

Aqua was still basking in flattery, so I answered his question with another one, "What are you talking about?" I already knew the answer, which made my heart feel heavy.

"Well, I remember that I was in this cell for a while next to Master Oni and Aqua, and nothing else after that. It feels like someone just jabbed a knife in my head." Ven moaned with pain.

"It seems that Xehanort didn't completely wipe his memory, but has jogged it a bit." Master Oni piped.

"You still remember me, right?" I poked at the sleepy teen's head.

"Yeah, you're name is Talons. Why wouldn't I remember the biggest ape in the universe?" Even though his answer was good-hearted and truthful, it filled me with angst to know that he didn't even know my name.

"Well at least you still remember almost everything." Aqua patted Ven's spiky blond hair and added, "And you still have the same happy-go-lucky attitude."

"Now, to the next world. What were we going to different worlds for again?"

"I don't think you'll be going in the state that you're in." Master Oni confessed.

"Why not? I'm fine. I just got hit in the head by an Unbirth, or something." Ven looked around and added, "Where are they, anyway?"

"Come with me, Ventus. I'll lead you back to your dorm so that you may rest until you feel better." A white glove wrapped around the boy's wrist and led him out of the cell area. You could hear Ven denying hospitality, "No, I'm fine. Just let me go so I can find this Xehanort guy." After two minutes, Master Oni called and his voice echoed through the halls, "Go and find Xehanort. We cannot waste any time." Aqua shrugged and created a portal. Soon she disappeared from all sight.

_If I ever see Xehanort again, I'll make sure that he pays; whatever it takes._


	23. Terra's Story:Book 1:Chapter 23

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep Zero~Terra's Story~Book 1, Chapter 23

DISCLAIMER OF THE AWESOMENESS: I do not own any awesome thing in this fanfic, and it all belongs either to the greatest video game director/character concept designer, Disney, or squeenix. A.K.A, I don't own anything.

NOTE: Wow! Today I have two thanks to go out for reviews: namixasvenkhfan, and a new reviewer(the more the merrier) iceandfire66. Spending valuable time just to review my fanfiction for my awaited game creates smiles on my face, and I do appreciate it. And of course, I can't forget to thank all of my readers as well; they have kept the story flowing just as much as my reviewers. Thank you, and I also must add that for the month of November, KH:BBS Zero has come to a total of 826 hits, and 315 visitors, which awes me. I hope to make a goal of of 1000 hits and at least 400 visitors this month of December, and I ask all of you to help me reach that goal by continuing to read KH:BBS Zero. Thanks again, your time is appreciated.

Eternal Symphonia

AND ALSO: I have come to a conclusion of what worlds TAV will be going to:

-Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and the Beast, Alice in Wonderland(poor Terra must endure the cheesiness and cuteness), Destiny Islands, Aladdin, The Black Cauldron(Terra only), The Sword in the Stone(Ven only), Hercules, Robin Hood(Aqua only), Peter Pan(Terra and Ven only), Young Lion King(Ven only), Sunset Horizons(desert where Terra confronts G-Nort), Twilight Town, Radiant Garden/Hollow Bastion, and we mustn't forget Winnie the Pooh. Pooh's book will be written at the end of KH:BBS Zero, and will be considered a sidequest. And after this chapter, Hercules will also be considered a sidequest that'll be scattered here and there within BBS Zero. And sorry I haven't updated in eons, I've been crammed full of homework, and I have church every Wednesday night along with it :(

P.S:Happy Holidays!

Chapter 23, Part 1:Olympus Coliseum

Upon arriving at my next destination after many futile attempts at creating a proper portal, I took in all of the stunning scenery that could make anyone believe that they were living in a dream: I was standing on the tip of a large, grassy plateau that overlooked a sunny valley. At the base of it lay a little village with many buildings all scattered in various areas. In the middle of it all was a column of about one hundred buildings with distinct Greek architecture. They were all lined in the shape of something close to the bottom of a thermometer. A dirt road from the unpretentious town winded around the area and led to the top of the acclivity. It continued under my feet until it descended down into another basin on the opposite side of the hill. I could hear the squeaking of wheels in the far distance; a wagon topped with golden hay and wheat rolled onwards, towards me. As it got closer, I could scrutinize it even clearer than before. A man who looked to be about sixty and a goat sat at the front while a teenage boy with dark orange hair in a pure white toga pulled the barrow forwards with his own two hands.

_Wow, he's like Superman, or something. _Even though I was pretty muscular and quite vigorous myself, I couldn't help but feel awed at the fact a boy my age who was so puny could be so powerful. Bleats were heard from the many sheep who grazed over the grass. Two were shoved away from the path and to the side as the wagon sped forward. I just stood there in fascination, just staring until the wagon was right in front of me. Without hesitation I tried to jump sideways to avoid the swerving cart. To my distress, one of the huge wooden wheels of the wagon rolled over my right foot. Instantly I grabbed my toes and hopped around while gritting my teeth. When I had finished, I heard the teenage boy who drove the cart yell, "Sorry!"

Hoping not to lose them, I stumbled down the sandy road in hopes of catching up and asking where I was and _when _I was. The load on the wagon was so tall that it knocked the people who were painting the gate archway straight off of it.

"Wait up!" I commanded before I clumsily tripped over a rusty-colored rock that didn't match any of the boulders or sand around it.

_It looks like those rocks at Sunset Horizons._ I picked myself up and pocketed the stone in order to show Ven and Aqua later on. By the time I glanced at the traveling wagon again, the young man with the reddish-orange hair had stopped. His waist and down was buried by the sand all around himself. Finally I caught up to the travelers and overheard their conversation: "When old Penelope busted her ankle back there, I thought we were done for."

Just then, the teen used his superb strength to lift the stack of hay up without any problem. Holding it only by one hand, he listened to his father say, "Not yet, Hercules; I have to haggle with Finnius."

"Okay." He threw the wheat back onto the cart with ease. Sadly, the stack was so heavy that the goat shot up into the air as soon as it impacted the wagon.

"Oops. Sorry, Penelope." Hercules waved his hand at the flying goat.

"Now, Hercules. This time just-" The old man was interrupted by a sigh, "Yeah, I know, I know, stay by the cart." The teen outstretched his hands and caught Penelope with his eyes closed.

"That's my boy." A wrinkly hand patted Hercules's shoulder. Hercules sighed and leaned on the hay.

"So, your name is Hercules?" I casually walked out from the back of the wagon and sent the teenager's head swiveling towards me.

"Yeah." Hercules closed one of his light blue eyes and didn't question of who I was. I guessed he thought that I must've been one of the locals, or maybe even a traveler from far away place, if he judged by my apparel.

"You, uh...You're pretty strong." As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I realized with guilt that it might have offended Hercules.

"Yeah." He repeated without any emotion. "I'm sorry that I almost ran you over with our cart. I was going too fast and I-"

"It's okay. Things like that happen to me all the time." I fibbed with a painfully fake chuckle arising from the depths of my throat. Unexpectedly, a man began to shout. Hercules instantly sprinted into the shop and balanced the pot that was about to fall from the man's hands.

"Why, thank you." He mumbled gratefully and stopped in his tracks before the sight of Hercules.

"You're welcome." The teen smiled warmly.

"Hercules, it's...it's you!" It was obvious that the middle aged man had met Hercules before; sadly, he didn't mean it in an excited sense.

"Lemme help you." Hercules pleaded.

"No,no, no,no, I've got it." The man turned and headed into the back of the pottery shop without haste.

"I'm fine. Now, now," The potter looked for an excuse to encourage Hercules to leave immediately: the one and only Terra Hamada.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm very sure. No go run along with that friend of yours over there." A red curtain was rudely pulled over the doorway after Hercules had walked out. The teen noticed this, looked back, and sighed. Suddenly, a golden plate fell in front of Hercules, so he picked it up right before its owners ran up to him, "Yo! Give it here!"

The other teenagers skidded and gasped.

"Hey, you need an extra guy?" Hercules grinned with the hopes of being able to dwell with others his age.

"Uh, sorry Herc, uh, we've already got five, and uh..we wanted to keep it even."

"But five isn't even an even number." I piped into the conversation before the teenagers grabbed the plate and farewelled in a rush, "See ya, Herc." As the boys ran away, you could hear them laughing and saying things such as, "What a geek." It seemed as if the townspeople clearly weren't too fond of the impoverished guy, and weren't afraid to show it.

"Don't take it so seriously, Hercules. They just think that they're better than everyone else." Herc had sat himself down on the fountain and glued his stare to his feet. Everyone who had previously been enjoying the well themselves dispersed quickly as they noticed Hercules.

"Heads up!" The golden disc had been flung over our heads. Immediately, Hercules jumped up to catch it. Without noticing that a column was right behind him, the teen crashed into it and the white marble began to teeter.

"Oh no, not again." He wrapped his arms around the column to try to stop it from falling, but by doing so he unbalanced the other one. Like a line of dominoes, all of the towers began to crash into one another while the townsfolk began to scatter in fear. Hercules tried desperately to stop them, but they were too fast.

"Watch out!" Hercules slipped on a puddle of mud and slid into the last standing building: the pottery. The inferior building crashed in a second, contradicting the hopes of the owner.

Herc stood in the dust with shame clouding his heart. I rushed over to him. His father came up also and put his hand on Hercules's shoulder once again and asked, "Son?"

"This is the last straw!" The potter failed to pop off one of the pots that had encased his head. I walked up to him and knocked on it twice. It crumbled apart and the man glared at me with venom, frost, and scorn.

_A chip off of the old glacier, huh?_

"He's a menace." A woman pointed at the cringing teen. Many other claims and insults flew at the poor boy, so much that I began to pity even more horrendously.

"He just can't control his strength." Hercules's father defended and shrugged.

"Keep that..that freak away from here!"

For the third time, the father patted Hercules on the shoulder and shook his head with condolence. I decided that it wasn't a good idea to bother Herc until he was feeling less....disliked.

Back on the hill, Hercules, his father, and I sat in a row beneath a small tree. In the distance a sunset eclipsed the horizon. Few birds tweeted with glee and settled down for the night.

"Hercules, don't let what they said back there get to you." The elderly man assured the angsty teen with doubt flaring in his own mind.

"But pops, they're right. I am a freak."

" Hey Herc, don't take what they say seriously. At least you haven't had hot blond chicks look at you and say, 'Ewwwwwww, he's so ugly!', and then say that your best friend was hot, even though he was _way _lessattractive than you." I hoped that this would reassure Hercules, but it seemed to make him feel even worse.

"Sorry, Hercules, I didn't mean-" Soon I found out that he wasn't even listening to me, for he interrupted, "I mean, I've tried to fit in, but I just can't."

"Sometimes, I feel like I don't even belong here." Hercules mumbled while staring at the ground in confusion.

"Like I'm supposed to be," He paused for the answer. "someplace else." His blue gaze lifted to the heavens in wonder.

"It doesn't make any sense." The boy sighed and strolled down the hill. I glanced at his father and shrugged before giving chase.

Hercules stood at the top of a sea cliff and let his sight focus on the setting sun. I snatched up one of the pebbles at Herc's feet and handed it to him.

"Hey, how far can you throw this?" Hercules skipped it and the stone only stopped after traveling a few miles.

"Cool." I muttered to him before he began to sing:

_"I have often dreamed of a far off place, where a great, warm welcome will be waiting for me."_

"_Where the crowds will cheer when they see my face, and voice keeps saying this is where I'm meant to be."_

After a while of walking around aimlessly, we came to a grove of tall deciduous trees. I followed Herc as he scrambled up the trunk of one closest to the ocean. Once at the top he continued his melody as a shooting star flew across the sky:

_"I will find my way, I can go the distance."_

"_I'll be there someday, if I can be strong,and I know that every mile will be worth my while."_

"_I would go almost anywhere to feel like I...belong."_

"So, have you met any of my friends yet?" I asked to get the idea of not "belonging" off of Hercules's mind as we walked back to his house.

"I don't think they'd ever want to be near me, even if they were as nice as you. Why don't you think I'm a freak? Everyone else does."

"Yeah, but I'm not everyone else. And besides, you haven't met Ven yet." Imagining the blond teen made me reconcile about the state he was in; remembering Xehanort's face along with it made me angry and also made me want to hurl.

"Oh yeah, and if you ever see a creepy old man with amber eyes and pointy ears, beat the crap out of him for me, please." I begged with little sarcasm.

"Okay, I'll put it on my list of things to do." Hercules joked with a chuckle. It made me happy to see that Herc was probably going back to his normal and joyful attitude.

The teen stopped in his tracks when his father and mother met us at the door.

"Hercules, there's something your mother and I have been meaning to tell you."

A few minutes later we all sat by the hearth in something that was similar to a living room. His mother paused, then searched through a sack of milky silk. In her hand was a circular golden medal with the symbol of a cloud and thunder tearing down to the sky.

"That's the symbol of the Greek gods." I remembered that I had to take a mythology class back at Castle Celest. In our textbooks, and even on the cover there had been that same exact symbol, which the class, taught by Master Hikari, had been told of it being the Greek gods' emblem.

"It was hanging around your neck when we found you." She gently handed the medallion to her adopted son. Hercules instantly jumped up in excitement and enunciated swiftly, "This is it! Maybe the Gods have the answers. I'll go to the temple of Zeus, and-" He looked at his parents with guilt.

"You're the greatest parents anyone could ever ask for, but I've got to know."

The next morning was when Hercules was to set off for the temple of Zeus, the King of the Greek Gods. Once again, I had to sleep in a barn filled with hay, cows, vampire bats, and blood sucking ticks. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the smell: compared to this barn, the one that Belle owned was the epitome of cheesiness, and trust me, I don't act like I'm a rich kid in a candy store when it comes to giving away that title.

For a few days afterwards(I hoped that Master Oni wouldn't kill me for not coming back after the two day deal), Hercules and I traveled along to the Temple of Zeus with audacity, courage, and more willpower than it takes to resist a plate of freshly baked, warm, gooey cookies.

"Do we have any food left?" My question sent Herc searching desperately through our sack of supplies, as if he were just waiting for me to suggest the idea of gorging ourselves.

"No." He sighed tremendously.

"Damn, that sucks." I uttered back with rue. As I said before, we had been traveling for two days, and out of excitement Hercules had eaten a little over half of our food in the first hour. For a rough estimate, I probably hadn't taken a bite out of anything for a day and a half, so that'd be thirty-six hours.

"Ugh." Effulgent sunlight beat down on our backs like bricks. Sweat practically cascaded down Hercules's arms, and I was sure that I wasn't doing much better.

"Man, we smell like sweaty pigs." Herc mumbled after a few moments of silence.

"Hiss!" Loud noises seethed into our ears before some of the Fallen appeared in front of us. Of course, Large Nightmares and Dawns were apparent as always, but two new monsters challenged us: the first one was an aerial monster. It had huge and demonic bat wings, one red eye, and a large scythe for a weapon. The body of the Unbirth was as tall as I was, and had gnarling, dirty claws and long, blueish-gray hair that matched it's scaly skin. Instead of having legs, it owned a five-foot long snakelike tail. The one thing it had similar to other Unbirths was its snout, similar to that of a Dawn, and the symbol that was imprinted on each wing. A.K.A, the weirdest looking beast you could ever lay your eyes on. Another Unbirth that crossed our path was a weak, small, insignificant, and ugly one: like every other Fallen so far, it was blueish-gray, but it was a very dark shade. On its head was the typical Unbirth mark, and on each side was a red symbol that looked similar to a fishing hook. The way it moved could be considered as the slithering of a snake. Overall, it was like a puppy in Unbirth form, except that it had no face nor the shape of a dog's head.

"What are these things?" Hercules muttered, almost to himself.

"The Fallen have arrived to greet." A rapt, deep, and echoing voice disgorged from an elder's corrugated mouth. The shaky and rumbling tone, etched by its experience and years, told me exactly who it came from.

_That old fart won't even come out and confront us with his own two hands._ I mutely pronounced to myself, my cocky attitude hoping that he would hear it, and my common sense hoping that he hadn't. More monsters appeared, counting to almost twenty, so I had assumed that Geezernort _had _heard my little comment. I scowled at my audacity.

"Hey there, little guy." Hercules foolishly bent down to pet the Unbirth dog, who was just waiting to bite his hand off.

"You idiot!" I had to grab him by his rusty orange hair to help him avoid being turned into a dish of dog food.

"What? I was just trying to pet the poor thing. It doesn't look all that evil."

"Hercules, you may not have noticed," I paused to chuckle with sarcasm. "First of all, that dog is a monster. Second of all, it wants to kill you. Thirdly, it has sharp teeth, and did I mention that it wants to kill you? Now, lesson learned today: don't pet or approach rabid, evil, sharp-toothed monster dogs who want to tear you to a crusty little husk of Greek rubble." Herc looked appalled at my behavior even though I just saved his right hand from becoming a chew toy.

"Well, if they're so evil, then we should just kill them off, right?" It offended him when I answered, "I don't know, but maybe you could channel some of that raw strength into a few of those Unbirths who are sneaking up on you." My comment sent his head jerking around to see the Winged Fate(what I had called the new aerial monsters) charging towards him with its scythe at the ready. Right as it swung, Hercules ducked and grabbed it. He then took the monster by its tail and threw it many miles away, towards an unknown and careless destination.

"That's one for Hercules." In his excitement the teenager balled his fist and jerked it downwards in a victory salute. Ashes were everywhere: in the air, on the ground, in our lungs, and even down Hercules's shirt. We had finally gotten rid of all the monsters, so we began to huff and gasp for breath.

"Well," I took in a rush of air and sighed quickly. "that's one more thing we've accomplished."

"Oh look!" A finger flew in front of my face and forced me to jerk my head back to avoid it. Hercules pointed to a Greek building that was monstrous. It lay on a rocky hill that overlooked the ocean.

"I don't think I could ever again climb up a hill like that." I instantly fell over from exhaustion and chilled on the floor a bit.

"There he is!" A jolly and happy old fellow called, his voice seeming to come from everywhere, even the hills and sea surrounding the temple. The statue of Zeus that had recently been motionless came to life and picked me up.

"There you are, my son." He stared at me admiringly.

"What, me? I think he-" I pointed to the carrot-topped teen who looked onward at us sadly, as if he was disappointed that he wasn't recognized. "He is the one you're looking for, not me. I don't have a butt-chin either, so-"

"Sorry, wrong guy." In the excitement of seeing his _real_ son, Zeus carelessly flung me away and plucked Hercules off of the ground. Tremendous screaming came out of the boy's mouth, his panic making him squeal like a little girl.

"No, do not be afraid, my son. Please do not fear..." Zeus took his colossal finger tip and rubbed the teen's hair in admiration, "My, how you have grown."

"Wait a minute, son? But you're a God, so that would make me-"

"Yes, you are a demi-god. Though unfortunately you are not able to visit your homeland because your immortality was taken away by the drooling, pesky, idiotic, disrespectful thieves who stole you from us. The only way you would be able to meet me and your mother in person is if you became a hero. But the trip, and the dangers too..." He paused and sighed before Hercules energetically raised his hand, "I'll do anything."

"Well, if you're sure, then I guess you'd better go see Philoctetes, the trainer of heroes." That one statement made Hercules turn to me.

"Terra," The orange-haired boy was interrupted by the tremendous gasp that erupted from Zeus's throat.

"What did you say that boy's name was?" You could hear the crunching of the fingernails that the God tapped harshly on the arm of his throne.

"Terra. Terra Hamada, to be exact. Why do you ask?" Hercules answered for me, which made Zeus even more nervous.

"Anyways Terra, are you going to go with me, because I think that it would be better if I went alone." I could tell that he actually wanted to prove to his father that he didn't need help in his quest to become a hero, so I obliged and listened to his 'thank you'.

"I must not forget, here is someone special that I know you'll just love." With a quick snap of his fingers, a large, blue, and silvery white winged horse trotted up to Hercules in a friendly manner.

"Hey, I remember you. Pegasus, right?" The horse whinnied in reply, which we all assumed meant 'yes'. Hercules's whole torso was smothered with horse drool as Pegasus licked him.

"Well, we better be off." Herc hopped onto the back of the winged steed and waved before he took off, "Thanks for your help!"

Just as I was about to leave and summon a portal, a booming voice stopped me in my tracks, "Wielder of the Keyblade, what are you doing here?" Zeus's slate filled eyes seemed to glow into brown orbs for a second as I turned around to meet him.

"Well, let's see. First, I made your son feel better. Secondly, I escorted him to you. And third, I saved him from some Unbirths. And your point is?" Zeus raised his granite eyebrow at my arrogance.

"You know of the sacred oath: you must not meddle within the affairs of others that you are not connected to. Surely you were told that that was one of the Keyblade Wielders' main jobs: protect the world order?"

"Yeah, but what else am I supposed to do?" I asked to mislead him away from my stunned state; how did this guy know about the other worlds?

"We are all given purpose, and our own sword. But rules and restrictions come along with it. If you do not follow those guidelines, everything will fall apart. Master Oni is one of the wisest and sagacious people I have ever met; even his intelligence far surpasses my own, that I am not afraid to admit. And if I am right, then I assume that he has taught you about what your restrictions are. Do not meddle in the affairs of other worlds, especially this one." Khronos's son stared into my soul with his slate gray eyes, combined with his stern attitude.

"Wait a second, if it hadn't been for me, then you would've never met Hercules. If I hadn't been there, he would've been eaten by the Unbirths. And you're telling me that it was a mistake?" Instinct made _Eternal Horizons _appear in my right hand without the slightest effort on my part. Zeus saw this and bellowed, "You cannot possibly harm me, the God of the Sky, and the heavens, so why do you summon your weapon?"

"Maybe not." I squinted my eyes at the huge statue and sent my Keyblade away, even though it was difficult to shake the feeling of intimidation away. The only thing that aided me was the thought that Zeus would know where Xehanort was. I mean, he was the God of practically everything, therefore he probably had the ability to see over other worlds' dominions as well.

"If you want me to leave, then tell me one thing first."

"You wish to know of Xehanort's whereabouts, correct?" That one statement told me that Zeus was no crusty old crayon that had just flew out of the toy box.

"That would be the one helpful thing you've actually done for me today." Sarcasm _almost_ embraced the edge of my tongue.

"He is closer to you than ever before, young Keyblade wielder. Watch closely. And remember this: Master Oni is watching _you_ closer than you think." With that ominous answer, the stone titan dis-animated and then was silent. I half expected him to come alive again. Three minutes flew past, and the slate God was still quiet. I decided to leave and try to get back to Castle Celest, without even thinking twice about what Zeus has said. I wasn't sure if it was because I didn't want to think about it, or I was too tired and hungry to care. Either way, I didn't give it a second chance until I noticed that I had begun to walk aimlessly around the hill that held Zeus's temple. I paused.

_What did he mean? Was Zeus suggesting that Master Oni doesn't trust me? No, probably not. He must've meant that he thought I was his best apprentice. _Oh God, that was the worst lie I had ever told myself. I feared that Master Oni had begun to distrust me. While wondering whether or not to tell Master Oni this 'news', I nonchalantly summoned a portal. And for the first time, I had no trouble; but my mind was too foggy to even notice.

Chapter 23, Part 2:Realization

Walking through the portal had not phased me, as it usually did. Or maybe it did make me sick to my stomach, and I just didn't care.

"Terra! There you are! You have been gone for longer than two days again; Aqua and I were worried sick. And have you seen Ven? He escaped last night when I was not watching, the little devil. Are you listening to me?" I had just strolled past Master Oni without even stopping, my head eternally lowered.

" What are you doing? Come back here at once and give me your report." The back of my brunette hair was tugged mercilessly by the rarely impatient elder. So, I told him everything, from meeting Hercules to my conversation with Zeus. And yes, I told him _everything_, and for some reason he couldn't believe of what Zeus had said to me.

" What did he tell you? Terra, please listen to me: why would I have to watch _just _you closely?" His question was contradicted by a very nervous chuckle. One thing that could reassure my theory was Master Oni's terrible ability to lie, somewhat even worse than Ven.

"Zeus was just playing around with you Terra; you should learn not to take everyone so seriously all the time. Now, help me find Ventus. He shouldn't have gotten too far away." Master Oni ran off while mumbling in a stern tone, and it must've been about Zeus's words. He obviously was going to have a talk with the God later about 'giving away' too much information.

"What about Xehanort?!" I asked across the hall after few seconds. Master Oni raised his gloved arm and raised his voice in reply, "We have enough time to find him later. Now our priority is to find Ventus. If he wanders far enough away from us, Xehanort could take this chance and mess with his mind even more." I admitted silently that he was right, so I summoned another portal that led to the one place where I could think.

A cloud of rusty sand billowed up and bore into my eyes harshly. Sunlight beamed down, and the only noise that could be heard was the howling of wind. The erupting and lonely silence always made me depressed, as if something tragic or devastating had happened. But for some reason, it was the only place I could clear my mind and think, so I came here often without even caring if I was supposed to be somewhere else, like looking for my best friend.

"Enjoying these devastating rays of sunlight, child?" An old, feminine voice echoed around the field. Automatically I got up and shook my head around furiously to search for its owner. A pale-lime skinned woman with purple eyeshadow and horns stood before me with a tall staff in hand. It was a plain wooden stick with a green ball on top.

"Is it Halloween already?" I smirked at the witch, hoping that she would take the hint and leave me alone. She didn't, of course.

"My, oh, my, what a handsome little fellow you are! Who's the lucky girl who has the honor of keeping a little bastard like you?" Her non-existent eyebrows raised and a loud cackle arose from her pale throat.

"Not you, I can assure. Now, if you don't mind-" I was interrupted by the tall hag, "Well, I'm not here to blather about how idiotic you can be. I have been sent here to give you a gift."

"A gift? You mean, like an early Christmas present?" I was being sarcastic of course, but the old hag took it differently, "No! You scuttling fool! You.. I mean, no, sweet child, no." She took in a huge breath to calm down before she answered, "It is a gift from Master Xehanort. He didn't want to give it to you himself because he felt that you would be rather...unaccepting." Her light purple fingernails were long enough to take a plain white box out of her robes' pocket without having to reach inside. I backed away from her as she approached, so soon she grew impatient and threw it to me, the box opening slightly as it slid across the desert floor. Reluctantly. I reached down with hesitation to the "present". To my disgust, the container was empty.

"Wow, I thought it was going to be coal. But even better: _nothing!_" I carelessly tossed the box to my side and summoned _Eternal Horizons_. Before running to take the first strike, I chuckled to the witch, "If Master Xehanort cares enough to give me a gift, then he should get off of his lazy ass and do it himself. Oh yeah, and tell him that I will definitely give him a present in return for taking care if my 'friend'." A name flashed into my mind as the old hag's eyes opened wide, showing glints of fear as I sprinted towards her, unbelieving that I would dare to harm her.

_Maleficent._


	24. Terra's Story:Book 1:Chapter 24

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep Zero~Book 1, Chapter 24:

DISCLAIMER: I do not own any KH stuff in this fanfiction, nor do I own anything that belongs to Walt Disney. All things Kingdom Hearts related are solely owned by Tetsuya Nomura, Square Enix, and Disney.

Note: Another review thanks shall be given to namixasvenkhfan, my awesome, loyal reviewer who has given an opinion on over half of these chapters(WOW). And once again, I am sorry that I haven't updated in SO long. Oh yeah, and I almost forgot: Audo, or Riku-Keyblade on KHInsider( a KH website) has created a thread on "Everything We Know About Birth by Sleep/Unbirths so far". That thread has helped me a lot on deciding which abilities that TAV have, and I'm sure you'll notice if you read this story and look at the Unbirths that Terra has described. I highly recommend you pay a visit to KHInsider and take a look at the forums section at the top right of the home page. Then, go to "Future of Kingdom Hearts" and look for the thread. It will help you out a lot if you're confused on anything that has been revealed for BBS so far: interviews, Unbirths, characters, and you might even find a few theories. The real Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep is coming out on PSP, and will be released in 2009 for Japan. Also, you might want to look at a video on Youtube. Type in "Jump Festa 2008 Birth by Sleep Full Trailer". Once again, I am TERRIBLY sorry that I haven't updated in at least a month. I've had homework shoved in my face by the tons, I have my religion to attend to every Wednesday night, and I've also been getting writer's block and lack of motivation. As an apology for this, I will make sure that this chapter is a bit longer than chapter 23. Thank you for your time. Oh yeah, and make sure to take a look at Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep Zero~Re-mixed!

The writer of KH:BBS Zero,

Eternal Symphonia

PLEASE READ: When I first submitted this chapter, I did not notice the little part where Ven says, "Help. I'm pooping.". I assure you one-hundred percent and on everything precious to my dear life that I DID NOT PUT THAT IN THERE!!! My eighteen-year-old sister(yes, she is immature) put it in there while I left my computer on and when I wasn't looking. When I uploaded the chapter, I did not read over it twice to make sure that she didn't put anything in there(yes, she has done this MANY times before). I ask you to please forgive me, for I am terribly embarassed by her little "quote". Birth by Sleep Zero is not meant to be like that, and I hope(and I'll make sure) that my sister does NOT do it again. Thank you for reading this,  
Eternal Symphonia

A stalwart wind mournfully cried as it relentlessly blew in a whirlwind of fury. Dust and sand were pressured against my eyes, stinging them brutally. In reply to the inflicting pain, I shut them tightly and cringed; tears rained from their corners and streamed down my face. Even more bits of the earth bore into my arms and cheeks, which urged me to grit my teeth.

"Painful." I muttered with disgust.

"Do I have to repel temptation, or may I kill you now? You seem to be waiting for me to make the first move." Maleficent uttered a shrill cry of aversion. Her robed arms elevated in haste, never ceasing to stop, but never rushing to finish. Once they arrived at their destination, the old witch brought them down again and forced her arms outwards. Black and green flames greedily lapped at the air, creating a circular wall around me until they fizzled out. In its place were ten Dawns, all dancing around in anticipation. Then, Maleficent flicked her hand towards another bare spot on the ground and more flames rose. Large Nightmares rose from the earth like zombies from a grave and waited for their master's command. A scowl cut through my face and was replaced by a fleering grin after _Eternal Horizons _appeared in my right hand. In return, a sneer was shot back. A forbidding wisp of thought floated through my mind, telling me to pause for a moment and think.

_Maybe Master Xehanort set Maleficent up to begin a battle with me to test my limits; he knew that the empty box would make me try to attack the old hag for wasting my time. Xehanort might even know that Ven has left the safety of the castle and told Maleficent to stall me while he looked for him. Battling her would murder even more precious time that could be spent searching for Ven._

"I have a "friend" that I'm looking for." I paused to chuckle. "Have you seen an annoying spiky-haired blond kid around?" Maleficent was surprised to see that I had stopped the fight from continuing. So, okay, I fibbed: this wasn't actually a physical battle, which is what I'm sure you were waiting for.

"Never heard of such a person. If you're not going to fight, then I won't either. But, if I cross your path again, I shall cut off the deal. Oh yes, and you might want to find Ventus quickly; Xehanort seldom misses an opportunity." With that, she scathingly bent her hand to call upon a portal. As expected, the trademark black and green flames engulfed the void, the Unbirths, and the witch until all disappeared without a trace.

Getting my mind back on track, all of my thoughts flickered to one simple goal: where is the one place that Ven would go when he needed to get away and think? Mine was Sunset Horizons, and I already knew that he wasn't there, so the only answer that popped up was the play islet on Destiny Islands. The cave of drawings was the area that Ventus had loved the most. My Keyblade was dis-summoned before I thrust my hand into an empty space. Instantaneously, a void swirling with streaks of opalescent white and sky blue appeared without any refusal.

"So, you are Alice?" A thundering voice echoed from the depths of the shadows at the edge of a forest. Outfitted in a blue and white dress stood a girl who looked to be about twelve or thirteen. Golden blond locks of hair tussled down to her shoulders.

"Who are you?" She managed to sputter out in fear.

"I am a friend," An elderly man stepped out of the shadows. "It seems you are lost. Come with me, and I will help you find your home, dear child." His eyes, which looked like glowing embers, seemed to burst into flame when the girl stepped back with her arm raised, which acted as a substitute for a shield.

"Leave me alone, or I'll-"

"You'll what? You wouldn't dare to harm a helpless, old man. Or would you?" He closed his eyes abruptly, then flickered them open. A chuckle of mockery eclipsed the air.

"You don't seem to be helpless. In fact, you look more like an evil stranger who would dare to harm _me_." Then Alice turned to run away, but failed; the old man had teleported in front of her, causing the girl to fall into his hands. He shackled her pasty wrists with two smoky strands of darkness that wound together like snakes.

"One down, six to go. Igneous, come here and carry the girl back to our hideout." Just then, a flash of darkness appeared in front of the old man. A boy with a black and crimson outfit strutted out of the void and tossed the girl over his shoulder. Many futile attempts to writhe out of her captor's clutches were apparent, and she even screamed a few times before Igneous squeezed her mouth shut. Another intrusion gracefully traipsed over to the pair. The horned woman's colorless eyes were stretched out in anticipation, "Master Xehanort, the boy has become a problem. He knows that Ven has escaped the castle and is looking for him now! If he finds him, our plan will be ruined; you must go and stop him at-"

"Calm down Maleficent. Even if he does find Ventus, we can always commence the plan later. Besides, the fool will never know where to look; I will have at least two years before the child finds him. Thankfully, Terra doesn't know that his dear friend is about to be swallowed by the Darkness, so no rush will pressure him." The elder's wrinkled head jerked back and laughter erupted from his throat. Maleficent glared at him in embarrassment.

"I'll check up on the two later after I'm done 'escorting' this dear princess to her cell, deep within the heart of Radiant Garden." Xehanort assured with his eyes twinkling in pure evil.

"Very well, then. I'll search for the others of pure heart. I'm sure Terra will enjoy your delightful company." And with that, the hag disappeared in another portal of green and black flames.

"Another puppet of the darkness, that horned witch. I anticipate the day she turns into an Unbirth."

One moment I was eclipsed by overpowering light, and the next I was standing on a beach. Wafts of salty air plugged my nose so that no other smell could come through. Cawing from seagulls embraced the air, while a rosy sunset caressed the sky. Puffs of white clouds were beginning to fade away into streaks of peachy chalk. From what I could tell, I was standing on the exact islet that I had meant to go to.

_This whole portal thing is turning out to be easier than I thought it would. _

"No!" A yelp from over on the eastern side of the beach. My head swiveled towards the repetitive clanking of wooden swords being scraped against each other. Sora and Riku were play-fighting, and judging from Sora's screams, it wasn't going too well for him, at least. More and more time flew past as I watched the two struggle to regain control of the battle, but their skills matched perfectly. Sora would parry Riku's blows, and Riku would parry Sora's blows. Every time Sora had tried to disarm his friend, Riku would overpower him and do the same.

A pleasing idea flashed through my head: _One day, they could become Keyblade wielders themselves._

"Sora! Riku!" The brunette turned his head while Riku continued the fight. Sora's distraction caused him to lose.

"You broked my concentration!" His curious blue eyes blinked with frustration.

"Sorry, kiddo." I rubbed his spiked hair and smirked without trying to let him know that his four-year-old grammar was right on track. Sora shook his head and pushed my hand away defiantly. Riku paced up to us and smiled, "Hey, Terra. We missed you."

"I missed you guys too. What've you been up to these days?"

"Well, I would've been winning a fight, but-" Much to Sora's dismay, Riku interrupted, "Nothing much."

"Anyways," The brunette scoffed with impatience edging his tongue. "where have you been? You used to be here all the time, and then one day you and Ven disappeared. It was totally weird!" To exaggerate, he flipped his arms into the air and his eyes grew wide with wonder. Riku just crossed his arms and added, "Yeah, it was like you two were just a dream. Only your mommy knew why you were gone, but she wouldn't tell anybody. All she'd say was, 'It's nothing. He went to live with some relatives on a set of islands far away.'. Everyone else but my mommy and Sora's mommy believed her. Well, except for me and Sora; we knew that something was bad." The silver-haired boy slanted his eyes in concentration, then glanced at me with the same face.

"So, why were you gone?" Sora finished.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you." Sarcasm and seriousness were both hidden within my tone.

Sora's stare drifted down to his feet. All of the sudden, a loud cry echoed from the entrance to the drawing cave, somewhat familiar. The four-year-old brunette who previously stood in front of me shivered in fear while clutching the back of my pants leg.

"It was probably just the wind." Riku scoffed. Another, even louder, moan blasted out the dark entrance, causing even the brave five-year-old to join Sora.

"Stay here, I'm going to check it out." I ordered the two boys. Gingerly, I began to tiptoe as the cave swallowed me. More cries were brought into existence, seemingly coming from behind a strange door that forbiddingly stood at the other end of the cavern. A droplet of dew fell from the rocky ceiling and spattered onto my nose.

"Help!" The door jerked a few times. Banging noises sounded from the other side being impacted harshly. Whoever was on the opposite side of the wooden door was desperate to come out. Shrill yells of pure torture violently rung through my ears. Realization struck me: Ven.

"Ven! Is that you?!"

"Please, help me! I can't-" The blond teen's plea stopped mid-sentence, and silence replaced his cries for assistance. Instantly, I rushed for the door.

"_You will know what happened; you will know that before the end."_

"What?" I asked, half knowing that the voice would object to telling me.

"_What did you risk? You'll know, and you won't know. That is the real question."_ I decided to ignore him and open the door. Ven's yelling was covered by the voice once again, _"Goodbye."_

My right hand hastily reached out towards the door; another thought nagged me:

_He's telling me something important, something familiar. _Words exploded throughout my head, many coming together and creating three simple words:

_Birth by Sleep_

_Birth by Sleep? Where did that come from? _Something was stopping me from opening the door. It didn't make any sense. Was I really going to just walk away from Ven, who was being shackled by an unknown presence?

"Hello?! Whoever is out there, hurry up!"

Finally I was able to shake the ominous feelings away. I easily opened the door just by turning the handle. Nothing more. A cold breeze pulsed out of the abyss of darkness, each wave becoming subtly softer as time flew by. Soon only small gusts trickled out.

I took one step inside.

Strands of black flames wove around my legs, arms, and torso, welcoming me. Twinkling danced everywhere, which reminded me of another place that was still fresh in my mind. My feet seemed to move on their own, and before I knew it, the door slammed behind me. I found my hands desperately vying for the golden handle of the door. The door had disappeared entirely.

_Great, now I'm stuck in this pool of dreariness and oblivion looking for my friend, who I can't even see._

"Fading..away." Ven's voice was surprisingly quiet, though he sounded like he was close by.

"Ven, where are you?!" Silence was my only friend in this dark world, for he didn't answer. Fear for Ven's health made me rush to find him.

"Ven! Answer me!" I ordered. The teen was still silent.

"Well, it seems you've found your friend sooner than I thought possible." The voice I dreaded more than any other echoed from behind me.

"Do you ever have anything else to do besides annoy me?" A wrinkly face flashed suddenly, making my eyes squint. In the pure darkness I could only see the glowing amber eyes that seemed to watch every move I made. Xehanort cackled monstrously, "Ventus is fading away in the darkness of this realm. He will soon be able to rest peacefully, with no one to bother him for the rest of existence."

"Not if I can help it." My Keyblade was summoned unconsciously. Every muscle in my body urged me to leap at the old croon, but my mind knew better.

"Are you really going to fight me? Or would you rather find your friend? If you spend too much time here, even your dark heart will be overpowered."

"And what about you? Are you so powerful that you don't even think that the darkness would dare to touch you?" Master Xehanort chortled with satisfaction as a dark form encased his hand. From it exploded his Keyblade, _Infatialis Sonata_.

The elder's voice raised, "Let's cut a deal, cockroach: if I win this battle, you will leave Ventus here. And if you win-"

"If I win, then I take Ven with me."

Xehanort smirked, "Of course."

The beginning of the battle started out with the typical parrying and blocking. Being the Keyblade Master of Darkness, Xehanort used shadow infused attacks, and I, being an unexperienced apprentice of the Light, used powerful blows that were often followed by spells.

Instinctively, I began to slowly deliver at least seven heavy blows. All but two of them were dodged by the Keyblade Master, which only gave him little cuts that didn't even bleed. Then, a rush of thunder bolts exploded and crackled throughout the air, all coming directly from the tip of my Keyblade. Again, Master Xehanort managed to ward off the bolts by simply deflecting them.

"Fire Blaze!" My Keyblade was thrust into the air. Crimson flames that melted into sapphire were shot at the elder, but to no avail they were deflected just as the thunder bolts were.

"I'm so sorry to say, but your strategy...oh, how do you children say it?" Xehanort paused abruptly and prodded at his chin in thought. I took the chance to finish off the combination of attacks that I had started.

"Rising Sun!" Not unlike the summoning sequence of _Eternal Horizons_, little gold and blue particles began to spin around my weapon while rings of white light began to pulse from the metal, seemingly drumming to the same beat as my heart's rhythm. In a flash, everything in the dark void transformed into barren, desolate wasteland that seemed to be exactly like Sunset Horizons. Time began to slow, creating a world that was completely silent except for the twinkling that had been in the dark void as well.

The voice that interrupted me before had returned, _"Death by Awakening, Birth by Sleep."_

Master Xehanort had completely stopped; his eyes were oozing with hatred, anger, mockery, and pure evil. Were those golden orange orbs always like this? I had never really paused to look at Xehanort closer, probably because I never had the urge to. His facial expression held only melancholy and relaxed tones. Judging from his eyes, which Master Oni had told me were the windows into the soul, the old fart was utterly iniquitous; no light feelings of joy, love, or care had ever hit his heart, unless it was when he was an innocent child. But something told me that Geezernort had been evil even when he was only a toddler. Now that I had took the time to actually look closer at him, I knew exactly who and what he was: Xehanort was a monster of darkness, and had not known anything but pure hate for everything in existence except himself. I knew right there and then, and even forever afterwards, that Xehanort, no matter how many times he was defeated, would remain in this universe even after he was dead. Something would carry him towards future generations, plaguing them and taking their lives away, whether if it was killing them or just thrusting them into situations where they would have to venture forth to destroy him. Master Oni had been wrong. Xehanort was truly the epitome of pure evil.

My senses had returned to focusing on the task at hand. Time was still at my disposal, but each moment I had spent in that abyss of silence sapped my strength drastically. Soon I was not even able to muster up enough power to cast a simple fire spell. I had wasted my time here by gawking at the new power. Soon I fell to the ground, feeling like I could just roll over and die without even caring. Everything returned to the black abyss, and Xehanort became mobile once again.

"Do you know how foolish you are, Terra? Do you even know what you have done!?" The old man lowered his head and began to utter shrill cries of laughter.

"No intelligent person would indulge in such a powerful move while in the realm of Darkness. The more you delve into power, the closer the Darkness is. You're lucky that it hasn't even turned you into a puppet!"

"Wha?" I slurred with exhaustion pressuring my eyelids.

"It seems my job here is done. And remember: don't fall asleep or you will slumber here for the rest of existence." Xehanort had once again walked away from a battle. The only thing I could do to show my displeasure at his cowardice was to tighten my fist.

Urgency started to rush me, but even then panic was dulled by fatigue.

Everything that I knew began to slip away from me, and then...

Darkness began to consume my heart like sand filling an hourglass. My senses snapped back into place and dread pulsed throughout my veins and mimicked my heartbeat. Fear caressed me, so powerful that I could barely even breathe; my hands began to twitch furiously. Eventually, all feelings of lost hope turned into anger and hatred. All I knew was that my purpose was to destroy.

The first time I had given into darkness, I was not able to see anything, nor able to think straight. But this time around I could easily bring thought to mind. And even in this realm of darkness, I could actually see. For the first time ever, the power of the shadows didn't seem forbidding or evil. In fact, I started to think that they could be quite useful. In the form of darkness I felt stronger, wiser, and even cunning, like I could take on the universe with only my pinky finger. Before, I had thought of darkness as a threat, and also as a burden that I would not be able to bear. But now I considered it to be a possibly helpful little power-up that I could use as an advantage. And as Master Oni said, Master Eterika knew that he could only destroy the Keyblade Master of Darkness by using that Darkness against him; Xehanort _is_ the Master of Darkness. And I would also not use it because I was greedy for power, but only for my friends. Navigating throughout this realm might even be easier to achieve, and that would bring me closer to Ven, which technically would be using it to help my friends, as I said before. But at that time, I was too foolish to know that I was terribly wrong. Oh, how gravely wrong I was...

I shook my head violently to clear my thoughts. Another thing I wanted to check to make absolutely sure that the powers of Darkness were still there. I found my hands inching slowly up to my ears...

At the bottom they were normal, but as my fingers brushed the tips, they jutted out to a point. I wouldn't have been surprised even if my eyes had turned to an amber glaze, but I didn't have a mirror at the time, nor any water to reflect my appearance. My mind snapped back to the thought of Ven. I instinctively knew that he was close by, but was enshrouded by far too much darkness to be seen.

"Ven!" I yelled through the eclipse of shadows.

A raspy voice whispered a papery echo, "Help."

At that plea, I dove into the abyss of nothingness and searched desperately for my dear friend. But even with the powers of darkness I was not able to wade through the pool of emptiness.

"Where are you!?" No reply came from the depths of emptiness. Not even a faint whisper could emerge from the desperate boy's throat. I knew that if there was ever a time to not panic, it would've been then. But how could I find him? First of all, I did say that I could see, but only myself and Xehanort. The darkness surrounding the area had taken away everything else that was once visible. And my friend was rapidly disappearing, so time also struggled against me. What could I do? All that popped up was led to oblivion as soon as their obvious faults were recognized. The one and only thing I was able to think of was to blindly search for him.  
After what seemed like a month of seeking for Ven, I was able to grab onto a solid object. It was ribbed at the bottom, and felt soft inside. About two minutes of feeling the thing, I decided to smell it. Don't ask me why. I finally found out what it was after feeling my eyes water: a smelly teenage boy's shoe, but with no leg attached. And judging from the revolting stench, it must have been Ven's.

_He must be nearby. _I surmised.  
I had searched for a little while longer to find my fingers pulling on spiky, blond hair, which I hoped had still been attached to its owner.  
"There you are." My friend instantaneously leaped into sight, much to my relief. I could feel my heart's pulse slow a little bit, edging closer to almost complete silence as the realization of my achievement sank in. His eyes were closed, but I could see his chest rising slowly as he inhaled and exhaled. My stare jumped to his right foot, which only held a dirty sock; I slipped the shoe back onto his oversized foot.  
Surprisingly, I was able to find the door by just backing up. The wooden frame made a thumping noise as my back impacted the door. For once, I didn't even have to try to work hard to get out of harm's way. Another thought ripped apart my short-lived rush of happiness: _What if Ven sees me using the powers of Darkness?  
_First of all, Ven would either shun me, chastise me, hate me, etcetera, etcetera, and he would've told Master Oni and Aqua since his mouth was more open and broad than the ocean could ever imagine being. As soon as a tiny little piece of fear gnawed at myself, I became weak and I fell to my knees with Ven's hair still shackled within my hand. Even though it wasn't funny at all, I found it to be quite the opposite when I found Ven to be still floating even when I should have been dragging him down by suddenly falling. I must admit, I somehow managed to giggle while Darkness flowed out of my heart without haste. But it still had a presence there, as if I could rely on it the next time I needed backup. But would I really take a chance on my sanity? Though I knew that I would probably say "yes", the one thing nudging me was what Master Oni had told about a year ago:  
_"Darkness consumes the careless, those who rely on it. It tempts you in and keeps you there. Sadly, most don't realize before they are gone that they are being fooled: Darkness recognizes humans' tendency to be curious, or even greedy. It then uses these flaws to hit the weak spot, or make you think that you _need _it to be a difference in anything. All in all, Darkness is an entity that grows and consumes you by manipulation."_

Oh well. Using the dark powers just ONCE won't kill me. My cockiness reassured me. I knew, deep inside, that I was wrong and being obtuse. Reluctantly ignoring my common sense, I reached out to the golden handle of the door. Before I could even touch it, the door creaked open at a leisurely pace. I unconsciously shrugged with my hand practically glued to Ven's golden spikes of hair. Peachy sand was scattered everywhere as I made a beeline to the shore. In my rush, I tossed the teenager to the floor without even caring whether or not I had just lobbed his head with a rock._  
_I found myself melting into a kneeling position as my panic fizzled away; in my reflection, everything was completely normal: no pointy ears, no amber eyes, nothing. Ven, Aqua, and Master Oni would know nothing about my explorations within the hands of Darkness. A drawn-out sigh expelled from my mouth with relief traipsing after it.  
"Hey, Terra!" The familiar voice of my friend suddenly burst into my ears. I turned around to see Ven's face only an inch away. He recognized my horror and beamed with his eyes closed, "So, Ape? How'd we get here?"  
"What did you see!?" I found myself grabbing the neck of his shirt and pulling him up to eyelength as I rose.  
"What do you mean? All I see is a fat ape who decided to kick sand into my mouth as he dropped me and ran away."

Well, at least he hadn't lost his sense of humor.  
"You know my name isn't really 'ape', right?"  
"Yeah. I just thought it sounded more manly than 'Terra'."  
"Wait a second, you remember now? I mean, you remember from before Geezernort messed with your memories?"

Ventus raised his right eyebrow for a second and paused to think. He then looked at me and nodded, "I think so. Everything is still a bit blurry, but I remember most of it."

"Good." After my relief was expressed by another sigh, Ven offered his hand to me while I got up. In reply I shook my head and mumbled a "Thanks anyways.". By the time I got to my feet Ven had already created a portal and half of his body disappeared within. He motioned for me to follow as his whole being was greedily swallowed by the void.  
As the silent world transformed into a hall deep inside of Castle Celest, I was ignorant of the fact that I had just used the powers of Darkness a few minutes ago; it was still lurking there, waiting for the opportune moment to take advantage of my disadvantages. Before today, everything had been normal and light within the confines of my soul, but now an uninviting, grim absence threatened to flood my senses. I knew that, if I was not careful, I would phase into the darkness once again, and I wasn't sure whether or not who it would be in front of.

_Don't worry. _I reassured myself. _Even if Master Oni knew what I had done, he probably would've just scathed me and told me not to ever do it again. And remember: you are only using it for your friends. _And with that, the evil menace that had kept me in its cold clutches slowly melted away.

"You finally found him!" The familiar, elderly voice boomed from the corner at our right.

"Ventus Toshi, if I ever catch you running off again, I will personally escort you to the oubliette that lies down in the dungeons." Ven and I glanced at eachother; the oubliette was a maze that lay even deeper than the jail that Aqua, Ven, and Master Oni were in. It was said that whoever was sent in either died or had just barely made it out with at least one body part removed. Only the ancients who were there when the castle was originally built knew what was waiting for the poor losers who were sent there.

"Master Oni," Ven hastened abruptly to lower his head in respect. "It wasn't my fault that I was gone. Master Xehanort-"  
"Xehanort again?" Master Oni snarled in a threatening, low tone.  
"Yeah." I answered for Ven. "Geezernort somehow got into the castle again and took him. Then he shoved him into the door that leads to the heart of Destiny Islands. From what he told me, being in there for too long can mess with your sanity, and even swallow you whole."

Silence boomed as the elder's ghostly eyes squinted in a horrified manner, a hint of suspicion glowing at their centers. Then, he leered into my soul as his eyes met mine for longer than a fleeting moment. My heart began to tick, seeming to count down to when it would explode with utter fear. After that minute of uncomfortable scrutiny, Master Oni blinked and asked, "Were either of you touched by the Darkness?" He glanced at me again and added, "Did you ever indulge in it?"

"Why would we ever do that? Do you really think that I would do such a thing?" Was Ven being sarcastic? I had really hoped not, because if he was, then he had known about my "expedition". To my relief, Master Oni turned around as if he was going to walk away.

He turned around swiftly and bore into my eyes again, leaning closer than he ever had before.

"What about you?"

I felt my veins turn to ice. If I lied to him, would he know that I was lying? And even worse, what would he do to me if he figured out that I had?

"N...no." I clumsily muttered with my heart beginning to slow.

"Good. Now then, go to the next world and search for Xehanort. And watch your backs like a lion to its prey; no matter where you are, trouble and danger will be lurking." Without meeting his gaze again, I managed to quickly shove my hand into an empty space. Without haste, I rushed into the portal and left before I could hear Master Oni's words:

"It has begun."


	25. Terra's Story:Book 1:Chapter 25

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep Zero~Terra's Story~Book 1:Chapter 25~

DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything except a craving for a copy of Kingdom Hearts:Birth by Sleep. All characters and worlds are owned by Disney, Square-Enix, and the greatest, most awesome video game director in the world/greatest character designer in the world(Tetsuya Nomura).

THE NOTE THAT EXISTS IN ALMOST EVERY CHAPTER:

Well, here we are again. I have created this note to thank my four new reviewers(the most in KH:BBS Zero history), ChoasDivine No.11, ShinobiMatt, blaze03, and Pokelover93. I enjoy seeing people giving me feedback on my story. It gives me the fuel to keep me going, knowing that there really is someone who is excited to read the next chapter. Oh yeah, and I have a recommendation:you should read the story on Fanfiction titled, Kingdom Hearts Marluxia The Graceful Assassin. It is a story that ChoasDivine urged me to read, so I did. I highly recommend it if you are a fan of our pink-haired assassin. Also:Go to my profile to vote on which character in BBS Zero is your favorite:Terra, Aqua, Ven, Geezernort, Igneous, Master Oni, or Pico. That's all I have to announce, so may the awesomeness be with you. Again, I have not updated in...two months, I think? Anyways, I needed to take a break from writing for a while, so sorry for the long-awaited update. During that no-writing period, I have been doing a number of other things. For one, I have been making a replica of Ven's Keyblade, Divided Fate in my terms, out of pine. I'm almost done with the sanding, so my next job is to primer it, then spray paint it. I'm so excited for the final result! P.S: I've heard that Kingdom Hearts:358/2 Days is coming out in Japan(not the USA) on May 30th, only a few days before my B-Day!

The bringer of Geezernort's awesome cheesiness and squeaky boots,

Eternal Symphonia

Chapter 25:Part 1~Enchanted Dominion:

My eyes fluttered open to find a sprawl of pines and other coniferous trees around my position. Birds hummed and whistled as their daily life went on without even the slightest clue that the teenage boy who had suddenly appeared wasn't from this world. But then again, they're birds. What would they know about things like that?

A scathing hiss seethed into my ears. I looked around for a while, trying to pinpoint the original source that was undoubtedly a Dawn.

"You know, you guys are starting to be a real pain in the ass." I found myself slowly getting up from my behind and summoning my Keyblade. One little navy colored monster hopped out of the top of a spruce. It danced a little and then ran off towards a bridge that led to a castle. The impressive fortress loomed in the distance, overlooking a warm, sunny valley that brought the scent of wildflowers and berries. My head jerked back to the Unbirth. It had begun to dance again, waiting for me to catch up. I grunted at its pathetic bravery and started to run towards the eternally smirking Dawn. The little coward paced off towards the castle again, meeting the bridge within only a few seconds.

" You can't run forever!" I found my legs managing to catch up to the monster, eventually within attacking distance. I launched into the air and slammed down _Eternal Horizons_. Darkness flew up in flames and the Unbirth was reduced to a pile of ashes that blew away in the wind, seemingly going nowhere. I slowly raised my head up to the castle once again. My eyes were transfixed on it for longer than what seemed like only a single moment. Wind blew past my face and tossed my hair around playfully as my focus turned back to the situation at hand.

After my short jolt of peace, Large Nightmares, more Dawns, one or two Crimson Fishers, and a few unfamiliar Unbirths(four to be exact) appeared in front of me. The first one was a human-like, dark blue monster with long white fingers that looked pretty sharp. The symbol of the Fallen was emblazoned upon its forehead, streaking crimson light into eyesight. The second member of the Unbirths was an aerial one; a plain, simple, glossy black crow. Very unique, right?

The third monster was a strange plant-type being that was red, black, and gold. At its base was a pot with the colors I previously mentioned. A black form rose out of the vase and had a simple, pink flower that looked about ready to bloom at the top of its supposed "head". Out of the black form were green vines that were barbed with many thorns. Finally, the last new Unbirth was also a very plain little thing that seemed to look like the bud of a flower. The bottom of it was completely black and rose up to the top by fading into a crimson shade. The top of the Fallen popped off once and a while, slowly coming down to rest on its "head" after the sudden burst, kind of like the tea kettles in cartoons. Aqua would have considered it to have been cute.

By the time the Unbirths had come at me, I couldn't even pause for a moment to name them. But it actually was a little relieving, in an abnormal, deranged sort of way; for once I didn't have to give a title to all of these deformed creatures on the fly and shun myself later for how defective and stupid they were.

Crows whizzed past my head in an effort to rake their talons across my bare skin. My brow lowered in agitation and I heaved my Keyblade in an upwards, diagonal arc as I swerved around on one foot to make contact with the unsuspecting monsters. Ashes fluttered to the stone beneath my feet like confetti, as if the Unbirths' remains were congratulating me for accomplishing the simple task of bringing them to that state.

I turned on my right foot once again to face the clawed humanoid Fallen. The air around me whistled while my weapon was thrust upwards. The monster was sent sky high. I took the opportunity and leaped up to meet it face to face. Time seemed to pause for a moment before _Eternal Horizons _was able to come around in a full circle and vanquish the stunned creature.

As soon as my feet hit the ground, the energy of some strange, new power began to pump through my muscles. An eerie reddish glow surrounded the edges of my entire being. I had learned a new ability, and judging by how powerful I felt, the futures of the Unbirths who stood before me were obsolete.

Large Nightmares, Dawns, and all of the others charged towards me. I hacked my way through the inferior, smaller ones. Every time metal hit silky flesh, my Keyblade began to develop an even stronger, crimson aura. Finally, I couldn't hold it anymore, and I sprinted up to the Nightmares. They started to close in...the idiots. Too bad they didn't know that I actually was waiting for them to make that move. Just before one of them was able to attack, I commenced a rush of strong combos. Powerful and devastating sideways, forwards, and even backwards thrusts were enough to weaken down the obese monsters just enough to give me some time to start the final attack, which was probably the most awesome ability I had seen so far besides Meteor's Inferno. It began with your standard, unsurprising parries. Then, after seeing about three Nightmares being terminated without a trace, it ascended into these almost unbelievable blows that decreased their ranks with almost depressing speed. Finally, there were only three left. First, I heaved _Eternal Horizons _to the right, then to the left. After a slight pause, I jumped up to only a foot above the ground and forced my legs and arms out to trigger a fire attack that created something close to a shield of spinning flames. The searing heat didn't seem to bother me, but the same couldn't be said for the Unbirths that had stood in front of me a few seconds beforehand. My feet just barely touched the stone below before I sprung off the bridge again and swung my Keyblade around in a full circle to freeze the Large Nightmares in blocks of pure, blueish white ice. While they were temporarily frozen, I took the chance to peek inside to see what they actually looked like when still. I tapped the glassy prison and cracked a grin, then waved to farewell them before I vaulted into the air one last time. A faint, yellowish glow appeared at where my spiritual heart was. I swung my weapon back like a baseball bat and waited for the aura to grow until I began to slowly move clockwise. Once the tip of my Keyblade was where the back of my head had previously been, I let it go and unleashed four immense pillars of sweltering blaze, all of it destroying everything and anything in its boiling hot path. My feet heavily landed on the stone below. I took a moment to catch my breath after executing such an efficacious string of attacks. After my brief little cool down, I raised my head hastily to look at my surroundings once more; the current of gentle wind was now much more satisfying to feel after battling for longer than fifteen minutes straight.

Suddenly, a voice erupted within the depths of my mind, "_Everywhere you turn, you'll be there, and you won't be."_

" If I didn't know better, it would seem that you have made the habit of telling me the most pointless things at the most random times." I replied out loud. All that came back was a laugh and the question, _"Yes or no?"_

I shook my head with impatience.

" _Stubborn as always."_ The Chaser sighed with the heavy feeling of pity in his heart. He had grown to actually liking this one. _"Well, if you're just going to ignore my advice, then know this: rejecting the truth will get you nowhere. Follow what your heart tells you, and everything will turn out as it should be."_

"As it should be? Is there such a thing?"

" _Farewell."_ He dismissed with an echoing voice.

My next destination was to the castle that towered in the distance. It took me a while to reach the twenty-foot doors, but I managed. Surprisingly they were wide open, ready for any thief or tired and careless traveler to just waltz in; or a spiky-haired, brunette Keyblade apprentice, for that matter.

I raced inside with my weapon still in hand, knowing that at least one Unbirth would pop up and try to attack. The area turned out to be a huge and empty room with two crimson thrones covered with blue and lime green tapestries at the end. It was far too dark in there to see the distant walls, but I could still pick out the bright red, white trimmed tiles that smothered the floor. Suddenly a large obstacle appeared out of nowhere and caused me to stop. It was a gigantic red, black, and yellow spinning wheel with a spool of golden thread. The Unbirth stood on three legs, which supported a small wooden table that resembled an undersized ladder. A few spikes were here and there, while the biggest ones were on top and on the sides of the spool of yarn. Only one question came to mind: _Who comes up with these ideas?_

The Unbirth boss lurched and groaned before the wheel began to spin rapidly, along with everything else on the enormous creature. Its first line of offense was a simple stomp on the tiled floor, which gave way to a powerful wave that shot out in a three-hundred and sixty degree radius, which was easily dodged by me. I rushed in and hacked away at the center of it, ending the combo with a Thundaga spell. It was temporarily stunned from the sudden burst of voltage coursing through its frame, giving me a minute or two to thrash away at the center again. A creaking noise seeped out of its wooden knees before the Fallen sprung up and landed on the opposite side of the throne room. I started an ability called "Speed Rave", which actually was a temporary power-up instead of an attack. Speed Rave transformed your moves into fast, but strong blows, which seemed helpful since there was a giant, spiked spinning wheel in the compact form of a drill shooting towards me with alarming celerity. I tried to dodge out of the way, but to no avail I was impacted harshly on the leg by one of the incoming spikes. Blood gurgled out of my thigh, causing me to drop to one knee in shock. The Wheel Master stopped abruptly on the right side of the room, stomping its brightly colored wooden legs on the floor in complete joy. The thought that the stupid, normally inanimate object had practically immobilized me made my stomach churn.

"Why don't you come over here and mock me? I'm sure it'll be even more fun knowing that you might just 'accidentally' step on me." I muttered "Cura" as I watched the monster trample over in eagerness. The dull spinning wheel obviously didn't recognize that my moans of pain were utterly dramatic, so unbelievable that even a two-year-old would figure it out. Once the Unbirth had arrived, it raised one of its wooden supports; I could see the inside of my eyelids get darker from the sudden shadow that had appeared over me. My eyes cracked open into tiny slits to make sure that the spinning wheel hadn't begun bringing down its leg onto me yet, and I waited. Though, I didn't have to open my eyes to hear the groaning of the Wheel Master to know that it was time. Just as the bottom of the Unbirth's foot came down, I summoned _Eternal Horizons _and struck it as hard as I could. A sickening crack erupted from above, and a shower of splinters rained onto my head. Silence cradled the room until the ground began to shake. One of the Wheel Master's legs had fallen in front of me, split in half with a clear, even cut that ran straight through, top to bottom. Steam fizzled off of the pile of wood and the smell of burning pine clogged my nose.

"You see, every time someone mocks me, something bad _always _happens to them. I just can't imagine why, though." I sneered at the immobilized Unbirth in sarcasm. The only thing left on its right side was a wooden stub, which was what I was now leaning on. It seems kind of cruel, but I couldn't help snickering at the sight of it trying to attack me with its wheel but failing because of its awkward position. "If Xehanort comes to get you, which I doubt he will, tell him that for me." Just as I uncrossed my legs and began to walk away, the Wheel Master made grinding noises and burst into flames. The floor squealed as I twisted around on my right foot.

"And if he wants to play around with my friend's heart, then he's got something just _wonderful _coming his way. Anyone who toys with me is bound for pain."

"The only person here who is 'bound for pain' would be the one who lacks self-discipline." I could feel pure enmity seeping to the core of my soul.

"Why are you still alive? You'd think an old fart like you would have croaked by now."

"Now, now, Terra." The unmistakable squeaking of the tile below could be heard as Master Xehanort's boots were scored across them. A hand was placed on my shoulder, much to my complete displeasure.

"I thought you would enjoy having a companion to celebrate your victory over my newest creation. And all I had to do was get Igneous to slay a young wielder who had unwisely began out on his own to find us, just like you and your little friends." Xehanort chortled, his revolting breath billowing out in clouds. After pausing to choke, I questioned, "And who would this apprentice be?" I was almost afraid to know; afraid to hear any familiar names that would rip at my heartstrings.

"Why, only that purple-eyed idiot Yamada. I hear you were quite close to him when you were still taking courses."

My pulse began to hasten and increase in volume. Dirk, Rein, and Yamada were the first three other apprentices I had met at Castle Celest, and were my best friends, next to Aqua and Ven. Streams of tears flooded my eyes and eventually found their way to the floor; I could feel my muscles turning into soggy noodles, thinking about how weak and dumb I felt for crying like a little kid whose ice cream had fallen off of the cone due to the arid rays of the Sun. Xehanort took his gloved fingers off of my shoulder and circled me repeatedly, as if savoring the sight of tears. I managed to sputter, "I hate you so much."

"And the best part is, you just crushed his soul entirely. Now he doesn't even have the chance to return to human form." His amber eyes darted over to the burning pile of wood.

"You should have seen his pitiful, pale, cold face after Igneous had killed him; too priceless to forget." A maniacal cackle that sent my veins boiling burst through his mouth.

"Why?" That was all I could ask before I rose to my feet, well aware that my eyes were turning into pools of amber, aware that the unforgettable feeling of Darkness was beginning to consume my entire being. Anger and hatred throbbed from the center of my heart to the tips of my fingers.

"So, you have become a monster of Darkness sooner than we thought possible. Master Oni will be enthralled to hear."

"I doubt he would be pleased to even look at you after all you've done, much less to speak to you." The promise that brought pointed ears also reintroduced throbbing pain. I could feel a burning sensation pulsing from the very bottom of my earlobes to the helix of my ears.

"Are those pointed ears that I see?" My skin tingled with loathing when he brushed my hair away to trace the perimeter of my ears. Instantly, I found my hand swiftly grabbing hold of his wrist, tightening my grip with each and every second. "Don't touch me." I warned, my eyes not even wandering to glare at him.

All he did was stand there and smile, not even wincing from fingernails being driven into his pale skin. Every drip seemed slower than the last. I had counted to thirty-three before Xehanort pronounced, "You're even more similar to Him than I had previously thought." Droplets of crimson dribbled to the floor for a little while longer, almost like the sand of an hourglass counting down to end of time.

_Him? _I asked myself, hoping that the elderly maniac had been listening.

"Master Xelos, the greatest Keyblade Bearer in the history of eternity. He should be credited with putting the universe back in order, but denizens of Light, who rule the major opinion, still deny him his deserved honor." The elder's eyes sparkled with awe and admiration. Obviously his role model must've been the original Keyblade Master of Darkness. Either he had trained under him, knew him well, or was just honoring his title's previous owner.

"So was Xelos the idiot who decided to choose you as the Keyblade Master of Darkness?" I could feel my ears begin to transform back into normal, round ones. It seemed that the calmer I became, the farther Darkness was.

Xehanort's face turned into a crimson shade, his anger rising with increasing speed. Just about every muscle on his face twitched with impatience and complete disgust. The Darkness that still pulsed through my heart burst at the sight of his hatred, growing with each and every second. Was this how Xehanort felt when he knew that he had touched a soft spot on me?

"You dare to speak his name so casually? In my day you would have had your head cut off on the spot for such disrespect." He snorted with disgust, then shook his head before violet and onyx black swirls of Darkness encircled his right arm, all coming from the point of his spiritual heart; if he even had one.

_That's weird. I've never seen that one before. _ The flames extended from his arm and formed _Infatialis Sonata. _The colossal room around us seemed to react by darkening a little bit. Then a noise erupted from the ornate doors at the entrance. Before I could even notice, Igneous appeared the opposite side of Master Xehanort, right behind me with his gloved hand around my chin. Xehanort raised his eyebrows at the apprentice which created a sudden burst of strength from Igneous's hand, jerking my head back while exposing my throat. Metallic screeching raked at my eardrums as the blade of _Chronosis Terminus _was rested on the main artery in my neck. I flailed my arms about to attempt gaining freedom, but I stopped in my tracks when I found the tip of Xehanort's Keyblade just barely touching the center of my chest.

"You see Terra, the more wielders that fall, the more powerful I become." He spotted a speck of dirt on his Keyblade and immediately rubbed it with his thumb. What I previously thought was a splash of grit was actually dried, flaky blood.

"So you're a murderer too?" I asked with the expectation of confirmation.

"Rather a person with goals that can only be completed at the death of others. But since you insist, yes. In your terms I am a murderer." The old man replied casually, not even thinking twice about how he had just announced that he had more than one goal. I was going to ask just what these "goals" were, but he beat me to it. "First of all, Kingdom Hearts. I'm sure you've heard of it quite often, knowing my twin."

"Yeah, but which one?" I recalled that there were four Kingdom Hearts: The Heart of All Worlds, The Heart of All Men, The Heart of All Souls, and finally, The Heart of All Keyblades.

"All of them, of course. In order to gain control of the universe, you must first gain all Kingdom Hearts. But the most important is the Heart of all Keyblades."

"I thought it was supposed to be the Kingdom Hearts of all Souls."

"Yes, but to you it would be. You are a wielder of the Soul. Igneous and I are of the Heart." A clumsy grunt came from the exo-skeleton clad teen behind me. To my relief, he let his Keyblade suspend to his side much to Master Xehanort's disgruntlement.

"Igneous, did I even once tell you to take your blade away from this fiend's throat?" He pronounced quietly, but his tone revealed ascending vexation.

The apprentice shook his head to say, "No."

"Come over here, now." The old man pointed to a spot two feet away from himself. Igneous left to comply to his Master's order. After a few seconds, Igneous had made it over to the designated spot.

Xehanort was still.

All of the sudden, Igneous toppled over and fell to the floor with a loud boom. His Master repeated his trademark, corrupt smirk before taking Igneous by the arm and chucked the teenager towards the sidelines. "Though the Kingdom Hearts of Keyblades is meant to the Soul Wielders, it is the most important one compared to the other three."

I neglected his offer of knowledge and replied with pity for the poor guy who was now awkwardly "reclining" on the floor, "You treat him as if he is a puppet that you can just toss away when necessary." Xehanort's expression tightened; his topaz eyes seemed to burst into an even more engulfing flame, eclipsing my own matching irises for more than a short moment. Our eye contact stood for a while longer. I could tell that the senior was growing quite impatient, as if he expected me to cower and glance at another inconspicuous spot around the throne room.

"You even look like him."

"I didn't know that you could think so much of someone else, Xehanort." I shot back. I knew that he was trying to tick me off by comparing myself to the original dark Keyblade Wielder and ignoring the cruelty he had shown towards the only person who was loyal to him, even by force. He knew that I hated acknowledging the fact that I wasn't exactly doing what my Master would have wished, thus using it against me.

"Why yes, I can." He raised his blade once again, this time resting on my nose.

"Finally! I didn't think you ever going to stop talking. " A long-held, proud sigh burst out of my throat while I summoned my own weapon. Even with only one insult, I was clearly able to get Xehanort's goat quite easily. But of course, anyone who despised Xehanort and anyone he knew of who did so always had the pleasure of easily making him go on a rant about how great he is, thus also revealing how easily he could get ticked by just an inkling of opposal. Was he really that simple to read? And all this time I thought to read Xehanort's thoughts was like trying to turn a impenetrable stone into a delicate flower. Well, that's one thing I was wrong on.

"Very amazing..." The old geezer drooled while staring at me intently. I knew his next remark was either going to some cheesy insult or another reference to his self-proclaimed God.

I clamped my hands over my ears and replied, "You know what? Don't even tell me what you consider to be 'amazing', I just don't want to hear it."

Thanks to my temporary earphones, all I could hear was the muffled remark/insult/snobby comment that makes you want to hurl at his audacity and rudeness. Xehanort realized that I had actually done what I had admitted cheerfully. I could see his mouth forming the words, "Aren't", "You", and "Listening". I almost said out loud, "No, of course not, 'cause I'll only hear some half-assed and crappy attempt at trying to make me feel inferior." And the fact that he could only use those not insulting insults on me was very, very depressing. It's like when Sora got mad at me for breaking his alleged concentrating: the little kid was trying to show his anger at me, but messed up his salty comment by his own rightful(since he was four years old) stupidity. The only difference is that Xehanort knew better.

Actually, he may have not. Scratch that.

The sound of liquid hitting a hard surface echoed throughout my ears. While thinking and silently insulting my loathed enemy, Xehanort had taken the time to slit my nose with the tip of _Chronosis Terminus._

"_Don't pick battles where you cannot win, Terra." _

_Shut up._ I snapped. At first I thought that the mysterious voice was trying to be helpful, but it was becoming quite annoying to hear rejection of every decision I had made. But I knew it was futile to argue with him. Was there even a way to get rid of it?

"_Jeez, I'm just trying to guide you in the right direction. You don't have to bite."_

I completely ignored him.

"_What? You're not even going to reply?"_

More silence.

"_You know, you're really lucky that I'm not giving up on you so easily. Most of the time I just tease the apprentices and then let them off with their Keyblades. But you-"_

The voice couldn't finish his sentence before Xehanort had started the battle. His weapon locked with mine. The icy metal of my Keyblade met the fiery, warm blade of his.

" Why is it that every time we meet it ends up as a futile fight?" Xehanort sarcastically asked with his amber eyes blazing like the depths of Hell, engulfing my icy blue ones like tight, absorbing shackles. He held his gaze over mine for a few more brief moments, seemingly mocking my every fiber.

"I dunno. Maybe it's because no one, not even your own student, can get along with you."

The geezer paused, then leaned in closely, his eyes not averting mine.

"Or maybe it's because you simply insist to pick a fight with every person who you don't 'like'."

Fury boiled my blood and tensed my muscles. Me_? _I_ was the one who had a bone to pick with everyone I didn't agree with? Oh no, Xehanort: you are _dead_ wrong. You are the one who hates everything that opposes you. Not me. _

"And yet you don't even notice how easily I can cause you anger." The old man chuckled with a hint of ridicule. I felt my blood begin to boil like a sizzling pot of grease, every once in a while popping to spew off a few spurts of oily droplets.

"Do you see? I only have to mention the fact of the power I have over you, and you _always_ begin to do what I want you to do almost instantaneously. Do you still reject the facts?"

"What facts? All I hear are lies." I shot back. Over a few feet away Igneous began to stir. Master Xehanort lifted his sight to the ceiling and sighed, "Why do I even put up with you?" A sickening crack burst up from the teen's back as Geezernort's boot was brought down brutally. He groaned with pain, but stopped after another blow to his back was dealt. Blood began to carpet the floor and puddled under Xehanort's feet. He glanced down at the oozing red and revoltingly sniffled, "Disgusting."

"You know what? You're sick."

"_I'm _ sick? At least _I _don't betray my Master."

"That's because you practically worship the toilet he craps on." The elder sighed and looked at his apprentice longingly, "Unlike him."

"Agh! Get over yourself! Your snootiness is making me hurl." Which was true, since I hated almost every snooty person in existence. I began to dash towards the old guy with _Eternal Horizons _floating in my grasp. Before I had met the distance of ten feet away from him, I raised my Keyblade so that it was now behind my head. Once I had gotten within attacking distance, I swung it at Geezernort's heart-empty chest.

The next few moments seemed to fly by in pictures. The first one was the beginning of a transforming snarl on Xehanort's face. The second one was an image of the middle of his shirt tattering. After that one was a scene of blood spurting out of his chest. I instantly shut my left eye as some of it got in. A burning sensation made me grimace, but a grin replaced it as soon as I saw the look of horror on the geezer's face. Another slide flashed by, one of Xehanort grabbing his chest where the cut had hit.

Time flashed back to normal. I shook my head to regain focus. My eyes opened to see Master Xehanort kneeling on the floor, gasping for breath and wheezing like a crow.

_Is he having a heart attack? _ Surprisingly, I had actually hoped he wasn't.

"Good one..." The old guy managed to choke out. He coughed a few times and some blood came out along with it. Xehanort began to fall, but caught himself with the one hand he wasn't using. Now he was kneeling but bent over, his left arm the only thing keeping him from hitting the floor. I could see his amber eyes flit around the room, then slowly rise up to me. Glistening, sharp, and pure white canines appeared as his mouth formed into a creepy, eerie grin.

"But not good enough."

My vision turned everything into pictures again: Xehanort disappearing, a white, gloved hand that was unmistakably his covering my mouth, his Keyblade appearing, blistering pain, crimson surging onto everything, darkness....

Then nothing.


	26. Terra's Story:Book 1:Chapter 26

Kingdom Heats:Birth by Sleep Zero~Terra's Story, Book 1~Chapter 26~

YOUR DAILY DOSE OF BBS:ZERO NOTE:

Well, my wonderful readers, we are here once again to recognize my awesome reviewers. First up is ShinobiMatt, ChoasDivine, blaze03, MiiWorld, Pokelover93, and amuletangel. Your time and thoughts are very much appreciated. I guess I don't have much else to say, really... Wow, that's a first.

DISCLAIMER OF NOMURA/DISNEY'S WORK: I DO NOT OWN ANYTHING in this script EXCEPT Terra's awesome spiky hair and hard stubbornness, Master Oni's creepy white eyes, Ven's immaturity, and Aqua's level head. Anything else, well, I'll leave that to you, Nomura.

Faint morning light pierced my eyes like darts to a dartboard. Around me was a certain warmth, which turned out to be actually a lime and creamy sky blue quilt ridged with a crimped egg white material that had specks of crimson splattered about.

_Where am I? _I wondered to myself. A dinky spark of discomfort ignited my solar plexus into a blazing fire of fear:

_Xehanort has imprisoned me. _I assumed with a darkened expression carving my face. The imprint of panic instantly died down with one look at the room around me.

To get a better look, I lifted my torso with my two hands acting as supports.

The minuscule bed I was laying upon was terribly small ; my feet were practically frozen from hanging over the frame for too long. Wooden panels that smothered the floor were turned into a field of golden light from the Sun's rays peeking through the two windows on either side of the chalky yellow room. A single door that matched the oak floor stood awkwardly across from me. Clinking and water splashing could be heard through the open crack. A waft of smell that was undoubtedly baked goods caressed my nose, trying to persuade me to get up and walk to the source. I refused with a grunt and, with regret, lazily let myself flop back to the bed. Wracking pain shot up my back, followed by a trickle of blood that found its way from the reopened gash to the floor. With certainty I realized that this room was a tad bit too cheery for something that Xehanort would have put me in. I chuckled, knowing that his idea of a prisoner's confinement would be a dungeon cell pit littered with torture devices and spikes. That, and could you imagine him baking cookies?

My thoughts flickered to Yamada. Yamada...He was dead. Completely dead, no thanks to me. How could he ever think he was any match for Xehanort or Igneous? How could _I _even think I was any match for Xehanort? Everything up until then seemed like a futile game, as if I was a doll and the universe was the playhouse with Xehanort at the core. That's what Xehanort was: a ruthless, vile and evil creature that ensnared others in his deadly grip, suffocating them and torturing their souls until they gave up. Did he hope that I would give up, too? If he did, then he's got something coming to him.

"Ohhhh, I told you to go check on him almost an _hour _ago, Fauna." A feminine, elderly voice chastised.

"Fine, fine. I'll check on the poor boy. At least _I'm _not lazy, unlike Merryweather." Another voice complied with venom. A faint, farther off voice echoed, "Stop squabbling, you two!"

My surprise at hearing the proof of company stopped me from noticing the aged woman peeking at me through the open slit of the door with large, blue orbs.

"And you are?"

The elderly lady ignored my question. She cocked her head to the side and literally shook as she made her way to me, bandages and a wooden cup sloshing full of clear water in her hands. Evident fear caused a few droplets to make way to the ground.

"Uh..hello? I asked you a question."

"Fauna." That was all she said. I peered at her with curiosity sparking within me. How had I gotten to this little room, and who were these weird people? My thoughts were interrupted when the old lady had forced the cup of water into my mouth. Due to the angle of my throat, I started choking and coughing.

My disabled ability to breathe was totally ignored by the sage green swaddled Fauna. She crossed her arms over one another and turned her back. When all of the water had been gurgled down into my stomach, I snatched the empty cup into my left hand and chucked it at her, "What the hell is wrong with you?!"

The wooden cup made a knocking noise as it collided with her grayish-brown hair covered skull. Fauna jerked and rubbed the back of her head, then looked at me. Her gaze rested on mine for a minute before she opened the door to its widest point and called to the other two, "I told you he was a ruffian!"

_Click, clock, click, clock. _The sound of shoes hitting hard floor erupted from behind Fauna. Another elderly woman wrapped in red rags and held up lighter, grayer hair than Flora burst into the room.

"What is going on here?" She took one glance at me, then turned to her companion.

"Fauna, what is wrong?"

"This violent boy threw his cup at me after I was kind enough to give him sustenance." Fauna pumped her arms back and forth, as if working up absent anger. Flora bent over and snatched the two broken pieces of the cup. Her similar sky blue eyes darted over them slowly, contemplating them, then turned to me and questioned, "Did you do this?"

"Yeah, but only after she practically shoved it down my throat." I spat. After hearing my answer Flora turned to Fauna and yelled into her face, "I told you, I do not care whether or not you think he should be allowed to stay here; we are going to take care of him, no matter how much you object!"

"Yes, but-"

"No! No more 'buts'! Now, apologize!"

Fauna raised her hand to her head and clutched the green rag that drape it. Her eyes clouded over before she bent over and pronounced, "Please forgive me."

"How did I get here anyway?" The sudden question tugged their heads my way.

"Well, we found an elderly man pointy ears hauling you and some strange black clad man around in the forest. I, Fauna, and Merryweather called out to ask him whatever in the world he was doing. He took one look at us, then at you, then dropped you and ran off with the other man. We, as in me and Merryweather," Flora jabbed her elbow into her sister's ribs before continuing.

"We took pity and brought you to our cottage to bandage your wounds."

"Well, I thank you for that, but I have to go." It was true: based on the amount that had been healed during however long I had been there, I had gone WAY over the three day limit that Master Oni had required. But I was afraid of going back to him, as if I knew he was going to question me further once he had the chance. The question was: do I stay here and wait for the inevitable? Or should I go to Master Oni now and face judgment? If I had waited any longer, my Master would've guessed that I had deliberately waited to face him.

_I'd better go now._ I rose out of the bed and dragged myself over to my neatly folded clothes that lay on the wooden rocking chair in the lower right corner of the room. My body protested indignantly, but I denied_._

_Sorry. _I apologized to my aching back.

"But you can't just leave with those horrible wounds! I won't let you."

"I will." Fauna sniffled. I ignored her and failed to notice the death glance that she had received from Flora. With my freshly cleaned uniform on, I traipsed out of the bedroom to meet a kitchen littered to the brim with cooking and baking supplies. Dirty and clean pots and pans cluttered the counters. Splatters of creamy batter and brown vanilla droplets were glittering on the plain white walls along with some on the cobblestone floor. Another aged woman who looked very similar to Flora and Fauna except with blue clothing rushed about, dusting this and fixing that, cleaning this and scrubbing that. A ornate, silver plate that held something resembling a lopsided, crumbly, burnt piece of dough sat on the wooden table. I think it was supposed to be a cake, but it certainly wasn't edible judging by the sight of eggshells and lumps of rock-hard brown sugar; anyone who took a bite out of it would have, at the most, five teeth left.

"Um, I guess..." I felt guilty for the hospitality that had been given to me without plead. Rubbing the back of my head in embarrassment, I chuckled and admitted, "I guess I owe you. Do you mind if I help?"

Supposedly a young, handsome man offering to help old women cook and clean is adorable. Flora's cheeks turned a soft red and Merryweather stopped all of her cleaning altogether to gasp in excitement.

"Very well, then. Turn around and wait until I come back." Flora rubbed her wrinkly hands together, then herded her sisters into the open pantry. They all started giggling and chattering like middle school was happening all over again. I slyly peeked back at them once in a while to see what was taking them so long.

"No looking!" Fauna practically screamed from the next room over. The door was then promptly shut with a loud bang.

_How is it that every time I meet someone new in a world I end up having to help them? _It was either that I was too kind or the people I met were far too busy.

"There you are." Merryweather tied a frilly, pink and lacy apron around my waist and tossed the neck harness over my head. Fauna came over and popped two matching oven mitts over my hands while Flora stood in the closest corner and paused to admire the view. Merryweather and Fauna joined her after attempting to put my hair in a little tie made of twine. It didn't seem to agree with the tie back deal, though. Each spike flicked out of the temporary shackle one by one, almost as if it was savoring the sight of the 'hair prison wardens' chuckling at its total messiness.

"We'll just forget the tie, how about?" Flora flicked her right hand downwards to cast out disappointment.

_Fine with me. I like my hair spiky and messy anyways. _I almost said out loud in definite rejection of their little stab at trying to make me feminine just because it was delightful.

"How lovely." Fauna complemented. Her two sisters both clasped their hands together in admiration. They 'oohed' and 'awwed' for about ten minutes afterwards.

"Yeah, this is all great, but do I really have to wear-"

"Yes." Fauna answered firmly. The three gathered around me before I was shoved to the ground. An old rag that hung over the side of a considerably wet wooden bucket was put on the floor next to me with a _clunk_. The rusty copper handle clinked and flew up from the sudden drop.

"When you're done scrubbing the floor, start scrubbing the walls. When you're done with that, wash the windows."

"Yes, 'Master'..." I spat my tongue out at their audacity. Did they really think they were going to order me around like that? I _did _offer to help, but only because I felt guilty. I guess this didn't happen to them very often. Taken for granted and shoved to the floor to do dirty work...Was I really going to stand up for that? Normally, I wouldn't have. But since they were old biddies and they would've clawed my eyes out if I resisted, I just sighed and grabbed the grungy rag. Now the only problems I had were if I was ever going to be done cleaning and baking, how much I had gone past the two day limit, my back's repetitive spasms of aching pain, and whether anyone I knew, respected, or despised would see me in this ridiculous piece of girly crap. If Master Xehanort _ever _saw me in this creepy pink thing...No...If Ven ever saw me in this get up I would be shunned and become an outcast to everyone I knew.

_Don't worry. _I reassured myself, _What are the chances that Ven would even be in this world out of the thousands of others that exist?_

"Anybody home!?" A voice called through the recently slammed-open door. My throat began to tighten as if there was a wet, slimy, venomous snake caressing my neck like shackles, each coil sending cold fear through my veins to the center of my being without pause.

"Hey there, old ladies. Briar here says you needed some help with her birthday party." I frantically tried to find an escape route.

"What?" Merryweather gulped in air with strong force.

"You already know about your party? But it was supposed to be a surprise..." The sage green-clad elderly woman voiced in a disappointed tone.

"Yeah, but don't worry. I can pretend I'm surprised. Just let Ventus help you, please." A voice that sounded like honey over satin whispered a plea. All three of Briar's caretakers engulfed in sighs and drew them out longingly.

"Oh well, she figured it out _last _year too. It was bound to happen." Flora confirmed. I heard Ven snort with sarcasm, "Well, _I _wouldn't have figured it out."

Flora, Fauna, Merryweather and Briar stared at him with sharp daggers shooting out of their eyes, wishing that at least five bolts of lightning would rain down upon him. While Ven was focused on brushing off his unwelcome, I took the opportunity and ripped the stupid apron off my chest as to spare me unwanted attention. The lace and frills on the edges flapped back and forth as it sped towards its cold grave. To top it off, I shoved it under the closest counter and mumbled a "Fira" at it.

"Hey, it's the hominoidea of complete spikyness!"

_Good, he's in his normal mood. _I began to relax_. _Then I thought about his greeting for a while.

_Since when does Ven know ANY scientific terms? God, never thought I'd see the day. _

"What's wrong? You seem...weirded out, or something." Ven, being normally irritating, started to poke my forehead rhythmically with a concerned but mocking look in his eyes. My hand shot up like a firework and reached for his wrist. I didn't even see him take his arm away, but when I brought my fingers together there was nothing to dig my nails into. He must have been getting faster by the day. Speed was his special ability though, so that was a given.

"It seems you've managed to be faster than me." I complemented with a grain of salt.

"No shit, Sherlock. That can happen any day." Ven spat back. Flora and her two sisters gasped at his 'language'. The blond teen's sky blue eyes rolled behind his head in frustration. I guess to him it was annoying to have three old ladies have a heart attack over one swear word.

He turned around and, before mumbling an apology, rubbed the back of his head to make it seem like he was actually sorry.

"_Anyway,_" Flora shot her eyes back and forth between me and Ven. "We should probably get going with this thing. It'll be dark enough soon."

"Yes, and Rose?"

"Aunt Flora?" The teenage girl with golden strings for hair asked quietly.

"Please go out into the forest just for a little bit. We need more time."

"Of course."

Throughout the next few hours I was put to crappy, smelly work. While I enjoyed scraping fudgy mold off of the seat of a toilet and scrubbing the floors with my bare hands(the three old bats didn't let me have a rag after I couldn't explain where their absolute favorite apron went), Ventus was put to work by making the cake. Yeah, Ven got the fun job. And the cake didn't actually have eggshells rising out of it like Mount Vesuvius this time. Go figure. All of the sudden, Merryweather came running down the attic stairs with three sticks in her hand. Each one sparkled at the tip. Red, green, and blue. Just like Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather.

Flora gasped, "Are you really sure we should pull those out? We have guests, you know." I assumed that was her way of telling her sister to put them away or else.

"It'll be fine. We'll just enchant a few mops and brooms and decorate the cake. I'm sure these two boys aren't evil. They wouldn't tell anyone-"

"Tell anyone what?" Ven turned his head our way in the middle of cracking an egg. Clear slime slithered out of the shell and dropped into the bowl with a slopping sound.

"Never mind. You will see for yourself."

With a swish of Merryweather's wand, all of the cleaning materials in the room began to float towards her. Ven stared in awe with one eyebrow raised. Hopefully he wasn't going to say something smart.

One by one, Ven and Merryweather lit each of the sixteen candles on the blue frosted cake. Two, Four, Six, Eight, Ten, Twelve, Fourteen, Fifteen...They met at the sixteenth candle. Merryweather charged for the last one as if it was an olympic gold medal, knocking over the rainbow wax into the tundra of sugar, thereby messing up the cake. Ven's brain fizzled for a moment, angry at his 'masterpiece's' short life.

The room fell silent.

"Well, we'd best put our wands away. I think I can hear Rose singing." Fauna complied to Flora and took each of the two wands out of her sisters' hands. Then she stumbled up the stairs.

Rose entered the kitchen with her beautiful voice trilling a little tune. She danced around in circles, over and over again until Fauna had come back down. Rose lifted the elderly woman's wrinkled hands into her own and began to sway her into the careen.

Ven mouthed the words, "Why is she so happy?" to me. I replied with a shrug.

"I just met the most wonderful man in the woods." Rose's eyes flickered open for a moment to see her aunts' reactions, then closed them as if she reminded herself, "Actually, I am afraid to know." The three old women watched her with horror outlining their expressions.

"You _what_?" They all asked in unison.

"In the forest I met a young man. He was so handsome, I feel...warm inside, now that I think of him." She cocked her head to the side and closed her eyes once again. She probably was imagining the 'dashing' young fellow she was twitterpated with.

I hadn't even noticed that Ven and I had instinctively backed up into the corner near the open window. My ears caught a faint rustling noise like a spider catches prey within its web. From the window.

A yellow beak poked out from behind the frame. Inch by inch, the bird slowly transformed into something I could recognize: a black crow. What was so familiar about it? Something was. Ven had noticed I wasn't paying attention to the scene in front of us. His blond spikes stuck out into the open air on their sides as he leaned over to peek at what I was looking at.

"Stupid bird." I heard him direct his whisper, "Blizzara". The crow's obsidian feathers began to freeze over. They paled a little bit, then snowflakes formed. A thin coating of ice now encased the glossy black feathers, causing the weightless crow to keel over the side of the window.

"Once upon a dream." Rose brushed her cheek softly.

"She's in love." Fauna glanced at her sisters with despair almost echoing from her tone.

"Oh dear..." Merryweather sighed.

"Well, what's wrong with that? I'm sixteen now." Rose stated with confidence. The three sisters looked at me and Ven with the hope that we would say something to change her mind. Ven and I shrugged together.

"Well, you're already betrothed." Fauna admitted.

"Since the day you were born." Merryweather added.

"To Prince Philip, dear."

"But...that's impossible! How could I be betrothed to him when I'm not even a-"

"Princess?" Ven offered.

"But you are, sweetheart."

"Princess Aurora." Their words rang out in cooperation.

"Tonight, we're taking you back to the castle to meet your father, King Stephan."

Aurora stared at her with alarm. Disappointment and sadness gleamed in her brown orbs, as if the most terrible thing in existence had found her.

"I cannot. I promised to meet my love tonight right here."

"I am sorry, child," The red clad elder trudged up to her. "But you must never see that boy again."

Aurora fell to her knees and attempted to plead and beg under her rhythmic, endless sobs. Ventus took a few steps towards her until he was only an inch away. She glanced up at him, then swiveled her knees towards him and clasped his legs for support. He knelt onto one knee and wrapped his left arm around her and stroked her hair with his other.

"It'll be okay." He reassured gently.

"No, it won't." Aurora stood up suddenly and sat there for a moment. She dashed towards her room. A loud clicking noise could be heard as she locked the door tight.

Flora sighed, "We had to tell her one day."

"I'll be right back." I whispered to Ven. He stared at me quizzically.

I began walking towards the front door. Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather didn't seem to notice as I slipped through the doorway. I guessed they were too caught up with grief to notice anything but the matter at hand.

The pine needles and deciduous leaves crackled under my feet as I made way for the open window that was connected to Aurora's room.

"Who's there?" The blond questioned with puffy eyes as I climbed over the oak sill. Aurora was laying on her bed, clutching the frame with her right hand and wiping her tears with her left.

"Terra, Ven's friend." Sunshine from the now falling star behind me lit up my face as I turned to shut the window. Aurora's face looked like a waterfall. She turned her face to the other side of the room in embarrassment.

"It's okay. Don't try to hide."

Another sob. Then a hiccup.

She slowly began to rotate her face into view. I treaded up to the bed and leaned over the pink lump that was swaddled with a quilt. Her blue irises blew up and sparked with a smile. They seemed to laugh, either at me or her recent burst of waterworks.

"I'm really abashed. Is my face red?" Aurora was right; I hadn't noticed it before, but her cheeks really had turned into a bright shade of pink.

"A little bit." I fibbed. She giggled, then retorted, "You're lying."

"Look, I wouldn't worry about about what happened today."

"That's easy for you to say. My whole life has turned around in just one day. I mean, me? A princess? All I've ever been is a humble peasant."

In the small, empty crevices of my heart I felt a certain shiver of accord. I remembered the day I had followed the desperate cries of Sora and Riku on Destiny Islands. After leaping out of my window with only a t-shirt and boxers, I had made my way to the play islet that was dominated by the small youth of the islands. Master Xehanort had...no. Igneous and Xehanort had captured them and, by letting Sora squeal his head off, managed to meet me in the meantime, one of the people on their creepy, in the middle of the night abduction list. Of course, as it goes in most stories, I got myself, Ven, and Aqua caught because I was dumb enough to tell Mr. Clean and his troll doll slave where they were. Stupid idiot, I just had to let my fear take over. Plus, I still couldn't believe I had been afraid of Xehanort and Igneous. It was like being scared of the Kool-Aid Man and Barbie. Pathetic, depressing, laughable, humiliating, keep going, you get the point. Because of this mistake, I was actually taken to Master Oni, the current Keyblade Master of the Light and head ruler of Castle Celest and asked to become his apprentice alongside Ven and Aqua. At first, the two refused. But then they agreed to the deal once they figured out that I wasn't going to pass up a hint of adventure. I guess this was the way Rose...Aurora felt at the time. Taken away from the life and everything you knew against your own will. Well, I had the option of saying no to Master Oni's request, but I didn't. Different situation, I guess.

"What are you thinking about?" Aurora suddenly questioned. I stared at her with surprise.

_Should I tell her? _I asked myself. No, you idiot. If she figures out that there's more than just one world...No, just no. I figured I could technically tell her the truth without completely spoiling it.

"Uh, well...I was just thinking about how I was in your situation once. But I had a choice, and you really don't. So-"

"Really?" Her eyes brightened up once again, shining at the thought of someone who might understand her.

"Yeah. But it's better now. Now I'm kind of happy I said, 'Yes'. If I hadn't, I wouldn't have met you, or anyone else I've met in the past year. All you have to do is look at the perks instead of the downsides."

"You mean like, if I really am a princess, I don't have to work really hard anymore?"

"Or clean, or be poor, or live in a dangerous forest-" We began listing all the good things about being a princess together. Each time I suggested something, her expression became more and more happy until it seemed her face was going to crack with bottled up joy.

"Well, I guess it really won't be that bad. But I still wish I could see that man again. I'll never see him again if I go to the castle." Her gaze lifted to the window to see if her Prince Charming was there to rescue her.

"Don't worry. As I've found out, nothing is ever gone forever."

Aurora giggled once again.

"I guess so."


	27. Terra's Story:Book 1:Chapter 27

Kingdom Hearts:Birth by sleep Zero~Terra's Story, Book 1~Chapter 27~

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters/worlds within the following script. All of them belong to Tetsuya Nomura, Square Enix, and Disney respectively.

Thee Olde Note:Well, folks, today my thanks and appreciation goes towards ShinobiMatt and ChoasDivine No.11. You guys have been such a great pair of reviewers, and I really look forward to your reviews and comments on BBS Zero. Thank you so much! If I had all the money in the world, I would equally split it between all of the wonderful reviewers for my story. And again, I am extremely sorry. I haven't updated in the longest of times...:(. Now, then, I also am using this note to ask all of my reviewers and readers to help me expand the fanfiction area for Birth by Sleep. When I originally posted the prologue for BBS Zero, I posted it because I really did think that there wasn't nearly as many Birth by Sleep stories as there should have been. Even now there is about the same amount of posts, give or take a few, which saddens me because I think Terra, Aqua, and Ven deserve as much fanfiction as Sora, Riku, and Kairi have. I know when the PSP game comes out, that will definitely change. So what I am asking you guys and girls to do is to help me out on this and start creating your own Birth by Sleep stories based on your predictions, theories, thoughts, ideas, and imagination. I am very interested to see what your opinions and theories are on the subject!

Thanks for your time and until the next "thee olde note",

Eternal Symphonia

"Terra," The sudden whisper that echoed from the slightly opened crack of Aurora's bedroom door caused me to wake up from my recent drift into the province of slumber; my surprise drove my head backwards into the drawer that I leaned on. A shoe that was unmistakably Ven's flew one step into the room as he careened his head around the oaken block of wood that, in every single world, was addressed as a simple door.

I glanced towards the window to see a full moon peering back at me in a cold hush along with a rising Sun that glowed with the light of dawn. Morning...it was morning. I surmised that I must've fallen asleep about an hour after Aurora did. Her bare foot now was drooping over the edge of the small bed.

"We'd better start getting ready to help escort Aurora to the castle." Ventus started to turn away from me to head out into the living room of the cottage, but then cocked his head back to add, "Merryweather, Fauna, and Flora are waiting."

I nodded a few times to contemplate his idea and agreed, "Right."

Once we were done getting ready and after Aurora had woken, we headed outside towards an empty clearing about twenty feet away. While we were walking, Ven looked around silently, then asked quietly, just so only I could hear, "How come there aren't any Unbirths around? I haven't seen too many in this world." Just then, a rustle from some foliage northeast of us rustled loudly. And of course, the inevitable came: Dawns, Large Nightmares, and a variety of other Unbirths. They all slowly circled us and released trademark hisses from their mouths.

"You really shouldn't have said that." I nudged Ven, who was already summoning _Divided Fate_.

"Then I guess my wish came true; I was kinda hoping for an excuse to run off some energy." He replied, then paced quickly towards the monsters with his Keyblade flailing behind him, almost as awkward as the way he held it.

The three fairies gasped in fright at the nearby creatures. Fauna then asked, "What are these things?"

"The Unbirths." The strange name forced Aurora to cock her head to the side in wonder. She probably thought, "Why would someone name such a strange creature something like that?". It was almost as if I heard the question come from her flushed lips, so I replied to such with a simple gesture from my hand along with a shrug. Aurora's glowing golden hair was carried by her head from her front to her back as she put her hands over her mouth in awe. I guess I must've read her mind. Like, literally. Wow. I knew that Keyblade wielders like myself were able to obtain awesome abilities, but that was the first time I ever thought that they could read minds.

Shortly afterwards, Ventus coughed as a little blood ran from the right corner of his mouth, the crimson fluid changing its angle when it met the tip of his chin, making its way to the inside of his shirt by trickling past his throat. That must've been why Aurora had gasped. She was afraid for Ven. Not because she thought I read her mind. Because she cared about Ven.

You know what I don't get? Even though I'm, may I brag, much more mannerly and respectful and whatnot towards females, Ven always got the most attention from them. Plus I was _way _better looking and my body didn't reek of rancid feet. I mean, I'm not boasting or anything, it's just that I always thought that females would pay a little more attention to me than him because I took care of myself and took a bath almost every day, respected them, changed my socks once in a while, and didn't give a sarcastic remark to everything. Aqua, Aurora, and even the sullen Rein, who was still back at Castle Celest, gave him more contemplation than I. Even Aqua, who was probably the most serious and intelligent girl I knew had certain affections for the boy who's attitude was the Yin of her Yang; completely opposite. As I watched my friend barrel his way through hordes of Unbirths, a slight ooze of jealousy radiated from my heart.

_They probably think he's...cute. "Oh, he's just soooooo adorable!". Bleh, would they rather have a dopey idiot with hair that looks like the Eiffel Tower for a boyfriend, who's also "cute"? Or would they rather have a serious, handsome, respectful, and intelligent boyfriend who actually bathes and brushes his teeth?_

I watched in awe as Ven flung one of the Large Nightmares up into the air with one hit. As the flabby, huge dark and midnight blue monster was slave to gravity, Ven leaped into the air and spun around and upwards. _Divided Fate _met it, and with one rotation the beast fizzled away into ashes that blew off to an unknown destination.

_They probably think his fighting style is cute, too. How pathetic._

"Don't just stand there! Help me out!" The blond commanded as he blundered blindly into a pool of Dawns.

I readied into my battle stance and summoned my own Keyblade, _Eternal Horizons_. My loyal battling companion instantly shot a fire attack at a Dawn, but missed due to our opponent's speed.

"Focus." I muttered to myself and my Keyblade without even thinking about it. Crackling energy seeped out of my hands and limbs before I started a combo attack. My Keyblade swung to the right, then to the left. I repeated as such until the little rose-bud shaped Unbirth was stunned and floating on its side. Roughly about seven or eight heavy blows, I'd say. Then, I hurtled into the air and positioned myself so that I now was hanging sideways. By swinging my Keyblade to the side in a full rotation, not unlike Ven's recent attack, I dealt a stunning collision blow to the poor little thing and sent it flying towards the boy I had previously mentioned. After he was done finishing off an aerial Unbirth shaped like an owl, he turned my way and noticed it speeding towards him. As the dinky red and black Unbirth soared overhead, he flung his Keyblade upwards with half an ounce of effort, a smirk etching the corners of his mouth as he realized an opportunity to leave a scalding remark.

"You're welcome!" Ven called across the distance that lay in between us. For a reply, I just shrugged with an innocent grin.

Suddenly, a whole horde of Unbirths started racing after me, composed mostly of the huge Large Nightmares. Once in front of me, they slapped their bellies and howled to the heavens in anticipation of their next piece of prey, starving for the powerful energy of my soul. I gritted my teeth while I pondered whether I should shoot a spell that would immobilize them or I should practice a large ranged combo. For some strange reason, I was able to continue thinking as I notably dodged their onslaught of rapid claw strikes by just accidentally leaping to the right places around the forest. Because of this, bits of tree bark and leaves were scoured into the air from the Large Nightmares' long, gnarled nails; the marks upon the trees steamed from each and every splinter. It all fell down to the Earth in a flurry of wooden chunks and fleshy scraps of green leaves like debris after a fireworks show, a few managing to hit both Ventus and I. A few ashes that had drifted over to me from one of the Ven-vanquished Unbirths had gotten into my eye. I stopped flying across the temporary battlefield to crouch over and rub them away.

"Terra, watch out!" A flash of white, black, red, and checkerboard slithered past my eyesight. Loud screaming pierced my ears and forced me to clamp my hands over the sides of my head to block the terrifying sound. The terrible squeals of fear and nonstop pain continued. On and on and on and on.....Constant for what seemed like hours. Then they stopped abruptly. Just like that.

I removed my earphones to make sure I was hearing the right thing.

Slowly and silently, I got up, then I replanted my hands upon my ears to make sure I wouldn't have to crash to the dirt again due to a possible sudden amount of sound. After a while of gritting my teeth and staring at the ground, I could hear the gasps from the three fairies and the princess.

My answer laid in front of me.

Ven fell over in a clamorous hump from the sight of who was standing in front of him, his arms and chest bleeding terribly from what I assumed to be claw marks, seething with dark mist that was remnant from the recent gouging from the Large Nightmare:

The exo-skeleton clad teenager attempted to tug his Keyblade, _Chronosis Terminus_, out of the chest of one of the large Unbirths that loomed over him. He did so over and over again, each powerful thrust causing the blubbery belly of the Nightmare to ripple like the waves of the ocean. Finally, he was able to slide about a foot of his weapon out of the fresh wound. Onyx blood spurted out from around the blade of the teen's weapon and began to shower him with black raindrops.

A clap of deep thunder seemed to cut through the clouds as if it had saw the scene and had run out in anticipation of a storm. But as no other rumbles shot into our hearing, it slowly dissolved away into a minuscule crackle. Igneous' unseeable gaze stared straight on into the crimson slits of the Unbirth. I imagined the boy under the dark helm, unblinking, matching the relentless determination of what I assumed to be his former ally.

"Wha?" Ven managed to sputter under his breath so as not to let a disturbance fling Igneous' intimidating glare to rest on him. I guessed he must've also not wanted attention from the hulking fatty who could squish him either.

Wow, Ven actually didn't break a sarcastic remark this time. Even in front of Igneous.

"Who is-" A voice that I assumed to be Aurora's was silenced instantly by a motion from Flora. Did she sense that it was not wise for her sisters and her step-niece to get involved? Maybe the fairies did know that we weren't from this world. I doubted it anyway, though.

"Now that that's over..."

Ventus and I sat there stunned, as if a lightning bolt had just come down and shackled us within a vortex of paralyzation. For the first time in what I assumed to be months, we heard the shadowy boy speak. His voice seemed to be...slightly different. Now it was a little bit lower, and sounded almost like a typical surfer dude's voice. Even a little bit of cockiness seemed to edge his tone. What had made such a strange change to Igneous' voice just within a few months? It had already been somewhat deep beforehand, so I don't think puberty could've taken a toll more than it had already.

"_Already, Igneous is a monster infused with Darkness."_

"_Defeat the Darkness and correct my mistake."_

"_Igneous was becoming too intelligent for his own good, so I put his sane mind to rest and turned him into my slave." _

_Obviously not. _I concluded after the short flashback of my conversation with Master Xehanort back at Sunset Horizons. I doubted that Mr. Clean himself, while using Igneous as a slave, would've sent him to block an attack from his ally for Ven; especially since the point of the blond teen jumping in front of the blow was to protect me while I paused to rub ashes off of my eyeball. That was probably the exact _opposite _of what Xehanort would have wanted. So why _had _Igneous shielded us both from the gluttonous creature?

He suddenly turned around to face us, his Keyblade dangling by only three of his gloved fingers.

The sound of metal slicing through the air shot past my ear._ Chronosis Terminus _landed handle up in the ground, along with being only a centimeter away from my face.

Igneous took a minuscule step forward towards Ven and I, seemingly with a tinge of haste. The teenager cocked his head backwards to look over his shoulder, probably to make sure that his Master was not present.

He paused.

"I'm sorry-"

"What? Since when have you ever been sorry for anything!?" Ven interrupted with scorn while trying to stand on his feet; apparently, his recent receiving of cuts and slashes had prevented him from standing to face our enemy. Well, our enemy unless Igneous had decided to turn against Master Xehanort. Which, if he did, I couldn't blame him one bit. He awkwardly toppled over with scorn lashing out from his face at Igneous.

"I'll admit, I was shameless and stubborn in the past-"

"And stupid, and rejecting, and cruel, and snobby-"

"You get the point." Igneous continued in an interruption of Ven's rant. The blond crossed his arms and glanced sideways at the three fairies and the princess who now stood in a trance of sheer awe and surprise. They stood there with the most astonished faces I have ever seen on anyone. Not even Fauna, who was always ready to interject, made a move.

"Terra, Ven, I...I..." Igneous paused to think about what he was going to do next. His concealed head dropped to let his stare hit the ground as he stumbled in embarrassment.

"I-"

"Igneous, what are you doing here anyway?"

My question then forced his head even lower along with his Keyblade, _Chronosis Terminus_.

"I came to warn you, before it's too late."

I swore I could hear Ven's heartbeat and Igneous's all the way back where I was, which was about five feet for Ventus and ten for the dark warrior. Ven then began shaking as he slowly rotated his neck to stare at me.

His eyes met mine. So did Igneous's. They both vacantly glared. It was starting to unsettle me, so much that I could barely move my lips to ask, "Uh, w-what's wrong?"

I felt kinda stupid asking that question, especially when they both kept staring at me with those, well, Ven's cold eyes, at least. It made me happy to know that this moment would've been much more stiff and uncomfortable if I could see Xehanort's apprentice's eyes too. A little bit afterwards, I noticed that four more pairs of eyes were glued to my face; a mixed variety of bewilderment, marvel, suspicion, and fear.

I shrugged while asking somewhat sarcastically, "Do I have moldy drool on my face or something?" I was actually getting kind of annoyed that weird, strange, creepy stuff like this happened on a day to day basis. I mean, couldn't this Keyblade, Master Xehanort, Light vs. Darkness, possession stuff give it a rest? Was it too much to ask?

"Come on, stop freaking me out."

They kept staring.

I sighed with impatience. So, to get their relentless glares off of me, I turned around as if I was going to walk away from the situation.

My shoes hit the sleek onyx boots of the familiar old man.

Gradually, my head raised far up enough to ensure that it actually was Xehanort. And since it goes that way in every story-of course, it _was _Mr. Clean.

So technically Ven and the others weren't really looking at just me.

Igneous coughed as he struggled to suck up to Master Xehanort, "Master, you are here."

"And you shouldn't be. What are you doing with the likes of these heathens?"

To save Igneous from embarrassment and scolding, I interrupted Xehanort's expectant, glowing scowl with a sigh, "Maybe he just figured out that you suck ass and decided to leave."

"Stay out of this!" The geezer's fury led his gloved hand to slap me across the face. Judging from the amount of pain that seared down my cheek, there was probably a crimson hand print there. Since I was cringing from the pain, I didn't even make a remark. Satisfied with my silence, Xehanort smiled evilly and slowly strutted closer to his defiant apprentice.

"I don't seem to remember that I told you to come to this exact world, Igneous. Is there a reason for that?"

"Master Xehanort, you told me to come and find Terra and Ventus. They were here, so I did exactly as you decreed." I could feel the utter fear radiating off of Igneous like the rays of the Sun. And if I could sense that much, then Master Xehanort would have recognized more than just fright.

"Igneous, I've told you many times before: when you lie to me, I can sense it worlds away. So don't even try it here. Tell me the truth, _now._"

Igneous glanced at Ven and I desperately, as if looking for an excuse. Due to Ven's hatred of Carrot-top, I was left alone to stand up for Igneous's good intentions.

Suddenly, the weight of _Eternal Horizons _increased in my grip. As it crept closer to the Earth, I started to create a plan of attack. If I didn't do something besides insulting and disrespecting, Igneous was going to be more than dead.

_Pretend like you're going to attack from behind, then leap over Xehanort when he's turned around and give it to him. _A simple and obvious battle plan, but one nonetheless.

My feet instinctively began to race towards Geezernort with increasing speed. My Keyblade, which was just suspended to the side, raised high above my head in anticipation of slamming down on our enemy. Man, I had to stop doing that. You know, addressing my Keyblade as if it was another person. I mean, Master Oni told me it was, but it still didn't feel right recognizing a giant key as a living, feeling being.

Surprisingly, Xehanort did as I expected when he heard my thudding footsteps. Before he could turn his head all the way around, I leaped into the air and vaulted over him. I had accidentally landed a few feet more away than I had expected, and Xehanort was already turning back around to the matter at hand.

_I can't run up to him now and attack him, I'm too far away. What do I do? _The amount of time I had to think with was increased when Ven shot a cure spell at himself and stood with his Keyblade at the ready. I glanced at him and watched as his eyes lit up, as if they were saying, "I've got your back."

I nodded and accepted his help without haste. Ven, with his acquired ability of being able to race like no tomorrow, sped to Geezernort's right side, diverting his attention from me to himself. While this distraction took its toll on the old man, I managed to throw _Eternal Horizons _his way. Flashes of copper and tarnished sapphire glinted in the morning sunlight as it barreled and spun through the air towards its opponent, making contact with a brutal blow to Xehanort's side.

Mr. Clean literally screamed in pain, wailing to the heavens as crimson liquid squirted from the open gash on his left hip. All that the old guy could do was topple over onto his back and cough. I couldn't believe that this had actually happened; I mean, all the other times I wasn't able to leave even a scratch on him, and now so suddenly I was able to knock him out. Strange. Even questionable. By know I knew better than to assume it wasn't a ruse. I re-summoned _Eternal Horizons_ and watched silently, a surging feeling of accomplishment rising in my chest.

Igneous instantly jumped forwards, but he stopped. Something was keeping him from coming to his Master's aid, something that was not clear to either Ven or I. Maybe it was rejection of Xehanort's cry of pain, since his Master had done the same to him countless times. In that way, I couldn't blame him. But would the Igneous I knew that I met at Destiny Islands really do this? Ignore his cohort and elder? It may have seemed dishonorable to the boy's name, but I would have done the same.

Before I knew it, Ven was already by my side and tearing up with laughter and hysteria. He fell to the ground and bellowed in excitement; soon after he was even rolling on the forest floor, sending brown and green pine needles alike flying.

"How dare you....How dare you laugh at me." A random cockroach scuttled away from Xehanort as he raised his head from the ground to glower at the teenage boy who was making a scene over the old man's apparent defeat.

After Ven was done wheezing and coughing he replied with sarcasm, "Well, of course I'm not making fun of _you_, 'Master'-" He paused to make quotation marks with the middle and index fingers of his hands and giggle.

"Baldinort." The loudest snort I have ever heard echoed and blasted from Ven's nose with force. A few birds that surrounded the area chirped with fear and flew away at the sudden elephant sized noise.

Master Xehanort snarled and pushed his face down into the dirt and blood that surrounded him.

"Igneous, help me." Xehanort muttered with a tired sigh, as if he was becoming annoyed. With this plea, the dark apprentice was able to shake out of his resentment and stumbled up to Xehanort in guilt. Once he met the shadowy elder he fell to his knees and began to practice a Cura spell, which was not the healthy, normal green color it should have been. Instead, it was like an onyx snake shooting out of Igneous's palm and winding around the old man's body until it met the source of the blood that gushed out from his wound. Then it slithered into the gash and started to turn pale and expand, filling in the absent presence of skin. I shivered with disgust sending goosebumps down my arms and legs. It wasn't the normal sort of thing you'd see everyday: a slimy, dark snake crawling into your flesh and turning into wrinkly skin.

...

Man, that was probably the most gross thing I'd ever seen. Even Ven, who was just previously cackling and snorting paused to gawk in awe and sheer horror. Aurora and her guardians even took a step back away from the pair.

The welt that marked the handprint on my face ached as goosebumps met it, causing me to raise my hand and rub it comfortingly.

"Thank you, Igneous. I....appreciate it _very _much." The shadowy figure of Master Xehanort shot up like a firework in the middle of the Fourth of July. Since his apprentice's hand was still resting on the elder's leg, Xehanort took the opportunity to reach forward and dig his fingers into the boy's wrist with no pity.

"What did you think you were doing!? Protecting these two freaks of the Light from an Unbirth!?"

No reply came from the apprentice.

"To even think that you'd abandon me and reject my well being because you _felt __bad _for these scoundrels. To even approach the idea of warning them of our plans. You dishonor the Keyblade wielders of the Darkness."

"Yeah, but you know what? It was worth dishonoring you and your retarded 'wielders of the Darkness'. All you've ever done to me is threaten and abuse me, even though I've stayed loyal my entire apprenticeship. Even worse, you tried to turn me into your little slave puppet. But guess what? It didn't work. It'll never work. You know why? Because not even a mindless, drooling servant would do your bidding. They'd be too intelligent to fall for that."

I don't think I've ever heard such a long hate speech of Xehanort in my entire life. And this time, not even the obedient Igneous, held back with spiteful words and accusations. Now, I just realized, Igneous wasn't my enemy, no matter if he was being controlled by his Master. Only Xehanort was.

Master Xehanort stood there and aged with silence, not even able to find the words to punish Igneous with. Igneous didn't speak again either. They stared at each other for the longest time.

I jerked my head towards the local residents of the Enchanted Dominion and ordered, "Go now to the castle and get away while you can. We can deal with this."

They happily bustled away from us without the slightest hint of haste and whispered desperately.

I glanced back to the situation at hand and realized that Igneous and Xehanort weren't done with their staring contest.

Ven nudged me and begged with fear, "I think we should get out of here, _now_."

"No, I'm not leaving Igneous."

My best friend slapped my shoulder, "Since when do you care about him? He can deal with this himself." And without even waiting for a reply, Ven summoned a portal and walked into it.

"Come on, Terra!" A hand shot out of the swirling white and blue abyss and motioned for me to approach. When I didn't, Ventus's head shot back into view and he raised one of his eyebrows.

I ignored him. Ven may have been independent, but I knew he wouldn't just let me stay there alone.

"Fine." He sighed.

"I have given you so much and have offered my vast knowledge to you, Igneous. And yet, you _still _aren't loyal to me."

"So what? That doesn't change my mind."

"Oh, somehow I just knew it would end this way." _Infatialis Sonata _was summoned by Master Xehanort, its cold black metal twinkling like the stars of twilight in the Sun. As a reply, Igneous summoned _Chronosis Terminus. _

The epic battle between the Master of Darkness and his apprentice had begun.

I whispered to Ven, "I'm going to fight along with Igneous."

"Right there with you."

He really knew how to be a best friend.

We both instinctively raced up to Igneous, Ven ending up on his left side, and myself on his right.

"So it's three teenagers against one old man, hmmm? How unfair..."

Igneous shot up to the geezer in a flash and parried the many harsh blows that were given from Xehanort's Keyblade. While Igneous distracted him with this, Ven shot to Xehanort's backside and began a super powerful high speed stabbing attack. While this forced Geezernort to submit to the relentless blows from Igneous, I practiced the same attack I had gotten Xehanort before with: jumping over him and Ven, then signaling the blond teen to jump, then chucking _Eternal Horizons _at the elder. Once I was done with this, Igneous stopped abruptly and shot a Thunder spell at him. Once paralyzed and forced to catch his breath, all three of us began to do a combination attack. Ven landed from his recent leap and nodded while showing us what to do next.

All three of our Keyblades, _Chronosis Terminus, Divided Fate, _and _Eternal Horizons _struck Master Xehanort's chest and caused him to hurtle backwards into a towering oak tree. Acorns rained down upon the unsuspecting elder and made the noise of hail upon a tin roof as they hit his bare skull.

The old man coughed, then he spoke, "Such a shame...I thought you'd be a little more merciful than to knock down an elderly fart."

"Get real." Ven muttered to the pointy-eared male.

"'Get real'? What kind of comeback is that? Kids these days, their insults were worse than ours. Back in my day, we would've said something more intelligent, such as, 'You should become more serious.'."

Igneous, Ven, and I all examined eachother's faces with expressions of mockery. The blond choked on a chuckle and Igneous jerked his head and caught the mouth of his helm with his right hand. That left me to give a salty reply.

"Yeah, Xehanort, you should try that. I mean, you know, because I hear that 'getting real' just isn't acceptable anymore."

"Make fun of _me_, will you? Didn't your mothers ever tell you how to give respect to those who deserve it?" Xehanort questioned, then paused to glance at the snickering Ven.

"Well, I'll cut Ventus some slack. But only because he doesn't even remember his own mother. Serves him right too, since he's sarcastic and snobby enough to not even deserve one."

Ven halted his laughing to focus on the throbbing agony writhing within his heart. Even my own heart stopped pumping for a few seconds as I began to pity him.

After hearing no comment to his uncalled for insult, Xehanort smirked his evil, Grinch-who-stole-Christmas grin and began another heinous remark, "What a horrible son you are, Ventus. Not even able to remember the person who gave birth to you. What a despicable crime."

"It's not his fault." I defended. My fists tightened as I waited for another inevitable put-down from the vicious person that lay inside of the seemingly harmless body of Xehanort. His amber eyes glistened as he recognized this.

"How would you know, Terra? He could've just as easily brought it upon himself. Besides, I think whoever or whatever did this to him was in their right mind to take away such a precious thing from this spoiled brat."

"You are the biggest bastard I have ever met! What is it of any concern to you any-!?"

"He's right: I did deserve it."

I stood there in complete shock along with Igneous and listened as Ven began to sob with an unknown fault of his eclipsing his emotions. Had he remembered something from his distant past? But....I couldn't believe it. Had Ven really, actually remembered something? I couldn't even really think of what to say to him.

All of the sudden, my mouth flew open:

"What do you mean?"

Ven shook with another sob and gritted his teeth, "And why do you even care!?"

"Because...we're friends, right?"

"Hardly."

"What do you-"

"Since when do friends betray eachother!?"

"What do you-" I repeated, but was interrupted once again. This time, though, I was too stunned to even respond.

"'What do you mean?', 'What do you mean?'. Don't play dumb with me, Terra. I know what you've done. Aqua doesn't believe it, but I sure as hell do."

_He meant...He couldn't mean-_

"Come on, Terra. I'm not stupid enough to think it was just a dream."

I answered with no reply. I knew it was coming before. I knew it was coming now:

"Ven, I-"

_Everywhere you turn, you'll be there and you won't be._

"You know what, don't even try-" The rest of his words were not heard.

_Yes? Or No?_

"Don't pretend like you don't know what it is!" Ven howled at me as I stared blankly on at the amber depths of Xehanort's eyes. He couldn't of told Ven what had happened. He wouldn't of...I hate Xehanort so much.

Then, Xehanort smiled as Ven continued.

He _had _told Ven about it.

_Your inability to see what is coming has sealed your fate._

_Pretend you don't know anything. Pretend what Ven knows is a lie._

"Ven, you don't really think...Whoever told you that is lying. Why would _I _ever do that?"

_Destiny? Or Fate?_

_What is the difference?_

"Because, Terra. Because you're a monster. A monster who uses the powers of Darkness whenever no one's watching. I know what you've been doing: exactly what we promised we wouldn't do. Now, I can't trust you anymore. I can't trust you with anything. Nothing at all. All because you were selfish enough to think that the Darkness won't swallow you. But I know it will."

My anger started to rise tremendously as Ven continued. The Darkness that still lay within me began to consume my entire being once again. But this time I had more control. In this form, I had an unlimited amount of power...nothing, not even an army of Keyblade Masters could've stopped me. The tips of my ears were watched like a hawk by Ven, whose cerulean eyes glinted with horror as they reached pointed form. And within a moment, my eyes were glared at as well, telling me that they weren't their normal blue color.

"So, it _is _true. You really have become what Master Oni said you would."

My suddenly deeper voice then asked, "Oh really? Did the _great _Master Oni assume that this would happen?"

"Well, he didn't really believe himself at first, but now-"

"Now what?"

"Well, I'm going to have to tell him he was right."

For the first time ever in my life, I felt alone. So alone, with no one, not even my best friends to turn to.

No, they _weren't _my best friends. Best friends don't leave each other just because their Master told them to based on his _own _opinion.

"Ven, if we-I mean, you, Aqua, and I were wielders of the Darkness. And let's just say, you wanted to use the powers of the Light for our own goals. Would you expect me to disown you as a friend just because our teacher told us too?"

Ven paused to think for a moment.

"No."

"Then why is it different now?"

"Because you made the promise. The promise to not use the powers of Darkness."

"How many times has Master Oni told us that we should use our enemy's power against them?"

"A lot."

I pointed over at Xehanort and raised my eyebrows with impatience, "There you go."

He stopped.

"I guess you're right."

"Yes, I am-"

"But what about the promise?"

"Ven," He gasped in surprise when I knelt before him and took his hand. I then bowed my head apologetically.

"Please forgive me. But you have to think about what I said before: I'm only using the Darkness to capture Xehanort and Igneous, nothing else. I'm not using it to kill anyone, or to gain personal power like Geezernort."

"Yeah." Now that I took the time to really look at Ven closer, I noticed a little guilt. Did he feel bad for suspecting me?

"I can't really blame you for hating me, Ven."

"I don't hate you, it's just that it's already happened to him, and I don't want it to happen to you, too."

_Him? Who is he talking about? _My brain started to just fizzle out on everything. Ven, or the Ven that existed before he lost his memories was really confusing me.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."

"No, you shouldn't be. I should be sorry. And Xehanort too, he had no right to claim something like that. And what does he know about your memories, anyway?"

Another really stupid question I shouldn't have asked.

"Yeah, you know what? Let's just get back to Castle Celest. I need to rest."

"Agreed."

As we walked through the silvery blue portal to Castle Celest, I managed to recollect everything that had happened. And now, I just realized that we left Master Xehanort alone with Igneous.

Oops.

Unbeknownst to me, the boy who had forgiven me for my sins was thinking to himself about more than just that:

_It's going to happen again. All of this, it, it's so familiar. I can't live with the grief of my past. I must not let Terra or Aqua know that I know. I know...I know he's going to return again. He's going to come and take away everything, just like he did the first time._

_Him._

_You looked ahead too late._


End file.
